The Thrill of The Hunt
by Theodora Snowbird
Summary: The Dark Lord made a game out of hunting people. Severus never thought he would be expected to hunt down Harriet Potter, who had grown up being brainwashed by Peter Pettigrew. Nevertheless, he thought it was going to be easy. He couldn't have been more wrong. FEM!Harry, GWL, Snarriet, female Harry x Snape
1. The Game

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.**

Chapter 1 The Game

He had been in Azkaban for nearly a month when Remus finally decided to confront him. Sirius didn't know what to say to him. Remus deserved the truth, but Sirius knew that he wouldn't believe him.

Remus looked worse than Sirius thought he must look. All of his friends were gone, betrayed by another friend. What did Harriet think? She was only a baby. Her favorite words were Momma and Da.

Sirius's eyes glistened as Remus sat across from him. She must be so confused. "Are you taking good care of her?" he asked hoarsely. "I mean… I'm sure she misses—"

"How dare you?" Remus nearly screamed. Remus never raised his voice. "She's with Petunia because of you!"

 _Petunia?_ As in Lily's sister Petunia? Sirius finally dared look Remus in the eye. He wasn't lying. "What?"

Remus laughed, sounding a bit crazy. "Yeah. Do you think a broke werewolf could take care of an infant? Who would I give her to during the full moon? You killed Peter! You killed _everyone._ "

"No, I didn't." Petunia?! "Remus you have to listen to me…"

* * *

"What do you think?" Remus asked Kingsley. As Sirius told his "side" of the story, he became more and more numb. It was obviously a lie. It had to be.

Kingsley was grim. He didn't believe it. Remus should just let it go. "He's lying. But you shouldn't have told him where Harriet was, Remus. Black could have contacts on the outside."

"How?" Few were brave enough to visit Azkaban, let alone come often enough to pass on information.

He didn't say. "I'm going to check on Petunia."

Remus apparated as well. He would watch over little Harry's crib every night if he had to. How could he have been so stupid?

* * *

Kingsley glared when he saw Remus but otherwise didn't say anything. They walked to Number Four briskly and silently. Surely nothing had happened. Only a few minutes had passed, and Dumbledore must have dozens of wards on the property.

Petunia answered after three sharp knocks. "What?"

"We would like to see Harriet," Kingsley told her calmly. "And talk to you, Mrs. Dursley."

Petunia frowned. "Potter's friend took her a month ago." Remus's heart sunk. A _month_ ago?! "Said she needed to be with her own kind, and frankly, I agreed. The little wretch wouldn't stop crying. He found us when I was taking them to the park. Poor Dudley had to deal with her crying for nearly three days."

"Potter's friend," Kingsley repeated. "Sirius is in Azkaban. Remus doesn't have her."

"The fat one," Petunia snapped. "Had a bandage on his hand."

"Peter?" Remus asked in disbelief. Was Sirius telling the truth?

Petunia rolled her eyes. "Yes. And I don't appreciate that headmaster telling me he died a hero. If there was someone else better suited to take her—"

"He told you about the familial magic protecting Harriet!" Remus roared. "And you just gave her away to someone you don't know?"

"There's no such thing as magic!" Petunia hissed. "That old man lied about that man being dead when Peter or whatever his name is wanted to raise her. I told my sister that I wanted nothing to do with her and—"

The door slammed in their faces when Petunia's voice broke. Sirius was telling the truth.

* * *

 _Seventeen years later…_

Harriet didn't like hunting. She wished she could live off berries and herbs alone but that was impractical. It was getting cold and a lot of the edible plants were starting to die.

Over the last three days, she had been hunting a stag. Winter was almost here, and her father was busy preserving the food they had. Harriet wanted to make a few fever reducers too, but she had to get the stag. The stag would keep them from starving over the winter.

At the sound of a scream, Harriet jumped and straightened her bow and arrow. It was a human scream and sounded like a woman, so it couldn't be Dad. She should run.

"Someone help me!" the woman begged. Harriet heard footsteps pounding on the leaves of the Forest floor. They were getting closer.

Dad said to stay away from humans. They were savage but called themselves civilized. They wasted resources until they had none, causing them to resort to cannibalism. As soon as they caught her, they would eat her alive, start gnawing on her flesh as they cooked her over a fire. If she dared to scream, they would sow her mouth shut.

As the footsteps started to get closer, Harriet climbed up a tree. She had never seen another human besides Dad and her reflection in water. She wondered what they looked like. What did pure evil look like?

The woman was blonde and small like her. The man was big like Dad and had an odd looking stick that he pointed at her. She fell to the ground and screamed.

"Dumbledore's little brats think they can go to Hogsmeade," he taunted. Harriet watched with a sick sort of fascination. Dad was right. If she helped the woman, would she try to hurt her?

"Please," she sobbed. The man kicked the woman in the ribs, causing Harriet to jump. "I-I don't know where he is—"

"Or…" He started circling her. "You thought you could apparate to him. Which one is it, Lovegood? Were you going to see your boyfriend? Or were you buying him a little Christmas present?"

The girl made to weakly crawl away as her attacker laughed cruelly. The man was still laughing as he motioned to kick her in the head. Harriet couldn't take it anymore.

Her arrow went straight through his neck before Harriet could take the time to close her eyes. With a scream, the woman looked up and saw her. Harriet froze, not knowing what to do. Surely the woman was going to kill her now.

They stared at each other for a long moment until they heard the sound of someone else coming. The woman ran and looked over her should, beckoning Harriet to follow. She wasn't going to fall for such a trap.

Good thing she didn't because it was Dad anyway. Harriet climbed from the tree as fast as she could as Dad ran for the body, probably trying to save the man. They weren't evil like the other humans.

"R-R-Rodolphus," Dad stuttered. Harriet hardly ever heard him stutter.

"He was attacking a woman," Harriet said, trying not to look at the man. There was so much blood. "I had to—"

Dad rounded on her. Harriet had never seen him so angry. "What did I tell you about getting this close to the edge of the Forest?"

Harriet took a step back. When Dad yelled at her, she felt terrible. "But the stag—"

"Stags do not leave the Forest!" he yelled. "And even if it did, you are not to follow it. You know that, Harriet!"

"He-he was hurting the woman," Harriet tried.

"What woman?" Dad yelled. "Is someone here?"

Harriet shook her head frantically. "N-no. She left."

He grabbed her wrist so tightly that Harriet cried out. When she saw that he was dragging her closer to the edge of the Forest, Harriet started screaming. Was he going to banish her? Like he had Black and Lupin? She wasn't evil. She hadn't meant to kill that man. He was going to kill that woman—

When the trees were gone, the world started spinning. Then, Harriet was in another world entirely.

* * *

"Another Hunt shall begin," the Dark Lord announced. Severus tried not to sigh. He had returned four years ago after Longbottom had won the Triwizard Tournament. Severus had been spying ever since. Hopefully Longbottom would destroy the last horcrux soon.

Severus hated the Hunts that occurred at least twice a year. The Dark Lord threw a Muggle into the forest near Malfoy Manor, and they were forced to hunt the man or woman down like an animal. Whoever won temporarily gained the Dark Lord's favor.

The Hunt was one of the Dark Lord's greatest sources of amusement. As he rose from his seat to present the "game," he seemed to be savoring every moment. It must be a muggleborn this time.

Severus never participated, stating that the Hunt would get in the way of spying on Dumbledore. The Order of the Phoenix was still trying to break down the wards around the Forest.

"I have found…" The Dark Lord paused and stared Severus down. He never trusted Severus, but then again, he never trusted anyone. "…a specimen that even you would be interested in, Severus, and whoever catches her gets to keep her."

"Keep her, my lord?" Lucius Malfoy asked.

" _Crucio!_ Do not interrupt me!" the Dark Lord snarled. He waited for Lucius's pitiful screams of pain to die down before he continued. "Keep her, kill her, do whatever you please with her."

The Death Eaters were usually like hunting dogs. As soon as they caught their prey, the Dark Lord dealt the final blow and killed their prize. Whoever caught this poor woman was going to be expected to torture her mercilessly before giving her death. Severus hoped he would not be forced to participate. She was probably a Lily look alike.

"Bring her out." The Dark Lord was practically simpering. " _Wormtail_."

It took a moment for Severus to recognize the nickname. Pettigrew. Peter Pettigrew who stole Harriet when she was a baby and hadn't been seen since. Seventeen years ago. Then that could only mean…

A profusely sweating Pettigrew dragged out a blindfolded woman who had a cloth tied around her mouth to muffle her screams. Her hands were bound with the chains that Pettigrew was using to drag her. _Harriet_.

"She screams just like her mother," the Dark Lord said fondly. The screaming stopped, and she focused on the direction that the Dark Lord was speaking. Bile rose in Severus's throat.

She was shorter and thinner, much thinner. Her hair was matted, and she was covered in dirt and dried sweat. Upon closer inspection, her face wasn't the same. The nose was James Potter's, and the lips weren't as full, but if he wasn't focused, Severus would have mistaken her for Lily.

The Dark Lord, along with Nagini, started circling her. Severus placed his shaking hands under the table as the monster of a man patted Harriet's head. He grabbed her blindfold and roughly ripped it off. Hazel eyes scanned the room frantically. Severus felt his heart clench when they briefly focused on him.

"Apparently word travels slow in the Forbidden Forest," the Dark Lord said dryly. "It took you four years to bring me the girl, Wormtail."

The pathetic excuse for a man dropped to his knees. Harriet started to struggle again when he started to beg. "P-please my lord. I-I am your f-f-faithful s-s-s-servant! I b-b-brought you the g-girl!""

"You brought me the girl when you realized I was strong enough to kill you with her," the Dark Lord hissed. _"Crucio!"_

To Severus's complete disbelief, the girl ran for Pettigrew when he fell to the ground screaming. She even fearlessly pushed past Nagini to get to him. The Dark Lord's cold cackles drowned out the screams.

"Not to worry, Harriet." The Dark Lord petted her head, almost lovingly, but Harriet knew better and fell backwards trying to get away from him. "Your _father_ will be perfectly fine. You on the other hand…"

Father. She thought Pettigrew was her _father?_ Severus supposed it made sense. Harriet was taken when she was barely a toddler. Pettigrew was all she knew. This meeting had to be over. He had to get to Dumbledore. Hopefully the Hunt didn't start today. The Dark Lord usually let his victims shiver in fear in the dungeons overnight before a Hunt.

But the Dark Lord was enjoying this too much. Harriet was the Girl Who Lived. Why wasn't he killing her outright? Perhaps it was because after she "died," Longbottom was considered the Chose One. The Dark Lord could contain his glee no longer and ripped the cloth off Harriet's mouth.

"Hurt him again, and it will be your last regret!" she snarled.

Even the Death Eaters started laughing at her words. When she charged at the Dark Lord, Pettigrew grabbed her chains and yanked, causing her to fall flat on her face. She was trying to save _him_. Her expression filled with hurt and betrayal after she scrambled to an upright position. Then, the Dark Lord continued to circle her, describing her like she was an object being auctioned off.

"Harriet is eighteen years old. She cannot read or use a wand." The Dark Lord grinned. "But her wilderness survival skills are impeccable. It may take months to claim your prize. Unless the dogs get her first."

Dogs. The full moon was in three weeks. If no one found her by then, Greyback and his pack surely would. Harriet wouldn't last _months_. It was rare that the "dogs" were able to participate in a "Hunt."

Harriet was panting heavily as she soaked in what the Dark Lord had said. She glanced at Pettigrew, worrying for the man who had betrayed her. "And if they can't catch me?"

More laughter from the Death Eaters. However the Dark Lord considered this a possibility and held up a hand to silence them. He stopped in front of her and stared her down. Harriet did not waver.

"If they can't catch you in six months," he said calmly, "you will join my ranks."

The refusal was threatening to burst out. Severus could see it and wondered how long he would have to endure seeing her tortured. But then she pursed her lips and narrowed eyes fell on Pettigrew, wondering what would happen to him if she refused. So Lily's daughter was a little Slytherin.

"Deal."

* * *

They had a feast after this announcement. Severus didn't say a word when Harriet was forced to sit next to him. She studied him intensely, wondering why she was shoved into the chair next to him. He tried his best to refuse to look at her.

"The Hunt will begin at dawn, Harriet," the Dark Lord informed her. "So I suggest you eat up and get a good night's sleep."

Most would refuse to eat for fear of poison. It must have been her Gryffindor genes that made her grab a dinner roll. Or it could be that she obviously knew what it was like not to eat every day. Even Pettigrew was thin.

The food wasn't poisoned, but Severus still thought she was being stupid for eating the food. He couldn't resist raising his eyebrows when she frowned and sniffed it. Perhaps she wasn't stupid after all.

"It's c-called bread, Harriet," Pettigrew told her. What the fuck? "It's m-m-made from a plant called wheat."

Several Death Eaters started laughing at her ignorance. Now that her hands were free, Harriet covered her ears. Was she autistic? No… What had the Dark Lord said? _Apparently word travels slow in the Forbidden Forest._ Had she… been living in the Forest, alone with Pettigrew all this time?  
All of the noises, foods, people were twenty times more than she was used to. Severus had to hold in dozens of questions as Harriet tentatively took a bite. Clearly, she didn't recognize any of the foods in front of her.

The Dark Lord was absolutely loving this. He savored Harriet's discomfort as she forced herself to eat. "Severus, Harriet, was in love with your mother."

At the mention of her mother, Harriet perked up in interest, despite her terror, as Severus felt all the color drain from his face. She grew up with Acromantula, wolves, centaurs, and countless other beasts. Of course mere men wouldn't paralyze her with fear.

"So much so," he continued, "that he was wanted me to kill you and her father so they could be together."

That wasn't entirely true. When he gave away the prophecy that marked Harriet for death, he had simply pleaded for Lily's life. He was so madly in love with her that he was willing to have her family murdered so she could live. He realized now that it wasn't love. It was hate. Hate for Potter, hate for himself, hate for Harriet, who he had never met. He allowed it to poison his soul, to morph his love into sick obsession.

He realized this too little too late.

"I killed her, of course," the Dark Lord said matter-of-factly. "Which I fear has melted his cold, blackened heart. I fear that he wants to repent for his sins. That is why I want him to be the one to catch you."

Harriet stopped her nervous nibbling. The Dark Lord snapped his fingers and Crabbe and Goyle Senior rose from their seats to drag her away. Severus could only imagine what was running through her head right now. She refused to scream or struggle.

"The Hunt begins at dawn," the Dark Lord announced. The Death Eaters started cheering. Severus wondered how many of them were genuinely excited.

* * *

Sirius tried not to yawn when he got Dumbledore's patronus. An emergency Order meeting at two in the bloody morning. What a way to start the anniversary of Lily and James's death.

He wondered if Harriet knew the significance of today, wherever she was. Sirius knew he would probably die before seeing her again, but he refused to believe that she was gone. Remus thought she was dead. He knew that even though his best friend pretended to believe with him. Sirius only hoped that Wormtail had dropped her off at an orphanage somewhere when he realized that he wasn't going to be caught, that she had gotten adopted and was living a normal life.

Snape was his usual greasy, pasty self. Sirius glared at him but didn't say anything. Not today. Today was too sad to continue their twenty eight year hatred of each other. The git didn't say anything until Bill sat down.

"Are you any closer to breaking down the wards?" he asked desperately. "Around Malfoy Manor."

The Hunt was disgusting, but Snape never reacted like this before. Remus often wondered how pretending to be a Death Eater didn't drive him insane, but Sirius knew Snape was fine because he didn't care. He was evil. For the briefest moment, Sirius thought he might be wrong. Perhaps Snape was starting to crack.

Bill shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He had been trying to break the wards for two years. Six Hunts had occurred during this time, and the guilt weighed heavily on him. "Yes. I mean no. It's a combination of wards. I've identified most of them but—"

"Harriet," Snape rasped. Sirius felt his blood run cold. "Harriet is going to be hunted in just a few hours."

The entire Order went in an uproar while Sirius, the only one who believed Harriet was alive, was too shocked to speak. Harriet's been with Wormtail all this time. He had given up looking for her almost ten years ago because he had to face the truth. The trail had run cold almost as soon as Wormtail kidnapped her. There were no clues, nowhere for him to look. It was like they had vanished.

Snape did his best to explain while everyone proceeded to panic. Voldemort planned to let his Death Eaters spend half a year hunting Harriet like an animal. Whoever got her first got to torture her to death.

"She doesn't stand a chance!"

"Are you sure it's her?"

"It doesn't matter who it is! The point is he's hunting someone again!"

"The point is that we are no closer to breaking the wards," Albus said. "I do not believe Harriet will last six months."

"Obviously," Snape drawled. "She doesn't know magic."

"How do you know?" Hermione asked.

"The Dark Lord gladly informed us." Snape seemed haunted by the memories. "She won't last six hours, let alone six months. He said she cannot read or us a wand. She was living with Pettigrew in the Forbidden Forest."

That close? Harriet was that close, and they had no idea. How many times had Hargrid been mere steps away from her? Remus had been a professor for a year. They were so close to her all this time.

Hermione, because she was Hermione, wasn't lost in the horror of reality. She was too busy analyzing what was presented to her. "He said she doesn't know how to use a wand. He said nothing about her not being able to us magic. Perhaps she knows wandless magic. But… she can't read? The Death Eaters can make signs, leave each other notes about her whereabouts."

"Working together is against the rules," Snape croaked. "But it doesn't matter. She seemed a bit… feeble minded."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius snapped. Was Snape really going to insult Harry's intelligence? They didn't have the time for their petty school boy games.

Remus put a hand on his wrist. "Sirius… She's had next to no social contact for most of her life. I can't imagine Peter… raised her properly. Can she talk, Severus?"

Can she talk? What kind of question was that? But she couldn't read… And Hermione could be wrong about her knowing magic. What if… What if she had been raised like an animal? What if she couldn't walk or use the bathroom? What if she had the mind of the baby that had been taken?

"Yes." But Snape was very, very pale. "I don't know how to describe it. She was dressed like a cavewoman and didn't know how to use cutlery. But she could talk. And she loves Pettigrew. The Dark Lord said she would join his ranks if she survived. She wasn't going to agree until she thought about what it would mean for Pettigrew."

"So she's intelligent," Dumbledore said. He wasn't asking, and from the looks of all the Order members, none of them agreed, not even Snape. "You are nowhere near taking down the wards, Mr. Weasley?"

Bill shook his head solemnly. "I was hoping to by next year, sir."

"Tell Fudge," Sirius said desperately, knowing Fudge wouldn't do anything. The auror department was in shambles. Five of them died recently taking down Bellatrix, who was causing riots in Azkaban while awaiting her trial.

"What's he going to do?" Ron cried. "I say we go with Snape—"

"He could kill her immediately at the sight of us," Remus said quietly. "But we can't just let her die…"

Dumbledore's plan was even worse than Ron's. "Severus will have to catch her."

"Absolutely not," Sirius yelled. "He'll be expected to torture her!" _And he might,_ he thought but was too sickened by the idea to voice it out loud. Was it really Harriet?

"He will bring a portkey," Dumbledore stated, as if it were obvious. "I'm afraid it will compromise—"

"Exactly," Hermione interrupted. "We need Professor Snape. He's never risked his position as a spy before. Just—"

"Stop." Surprisingly, it was Neville who spoke up. He hardly ever did and usually soaked everything in. He was a fighter but not a leader. "Severus will have to decide. Severus and no one else."

Everyone turned to look at Snape. If he said no, Sirius fully planned to rip every slimy hair out of his head and use Polyjuice potion to do it. Position as a spy be damned. Who the hell did Hermione think she was? Harriet was family.

But Snape might not think so. Sirius was fully aware of Snape's feelings for Lily. Did he still love her? Probably. And Harriet was living proof that Lily chose James and not him. Sirius clenched his fists, waiting. He wanted nothing more than to attack the greasy bastard.

"Stay at headquarters," Snape finally said. "I'll be bringing her back in just a few hours."

* * *

The girl was still in her chains. She was shaking like a leaf but kept her face blank. There was no begging or attempts at bartering. Harriet stared straight ahead into the forest, which was still dark as the sun started to creep up.

"I thought you would be joining us, Severus," the Dark Lord practically gushed. "I'm curious of what you will do with her if you're the one to capture her. Any final words, Harriet?"

Harriet stared straight ahead. She teetered slightly and pushed her feet into the dirt. Severus wondered if Granger was right, if Harriet knew any wandless magic.

"Very well." The Dark Lord sounded torn between disappointed and excited. He pointed his wand at Harriet's chains, freeing her. "Let the Hunt begi—"

Harriet kicked her feet in the dirt. To everyone's shock, a thick cloud of dirt surround it them, blowing dirt, grass, and small peebles. Severus tried not to gasp, but it didn't matter. Dirt was already in his eyes, ears, and throat. Anywhere that wasn't covered with clothing was caked in it. He pointed his wand at his face to clear it to see his fellow Death Eaters either struggling to do the same or stupidly wiping the dirt out of their eyes.

The Dark Lord was already clean and a sick grin was taking over his face. This was going to be much more interesting for him that the usual Hunts.

Harriet was nowhere to be seen.

 **Let me know what you think! :)**


	2. Hunting Harriet

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.**

Chapter 2 Hunting Harriet

Five hours later, Severus spotted Harriet hiding behind a tree. The only problem was that Gregory Goyle Senior was on the other side of the tree, and his son wasn't far behind. If he stunned her, Goyle might catch her first. Harriet wasn't moving a muscle, but the wind blew, revealing her hair.

Goyle raised his wand, and Severus did the same, but Harriet jumped from behind the tree and punched him squared in the nose. To Severus's surprise, he fell to the ground groaning.

Harriet bolted, dodging spells from Goyle Junior as best as she could. A stunner grazed her ankle, causing her to shriek in surprise and stumble. Goyle was catching up to her and deflected the curse Severus sent towards him. It wasn't abnormal for him to attack another Death Eater. They were in a competition after all. The Dark Lord would only be suspicious if Severus had killed him. He should have.

As soon as she stood up, Harriet made a motion as if she was pushing something invisible to the side. Stupid Goyle didn't think much of it and kept running, causing Harriet's eyes to widen in shock. A huge tree fell directly on him.

Her face was covered in the man's blood, which had splattered upon impact. Her eyes seemed to be popping out of her head with the realization of what she had just done. She thought that Goyle would have recognized the magic and stopped, giving her time to escape. This was the perfect opportunity to catch her.

 _"Stu—"_

He should have silently cast the charm, but he wanted to make sure it was powerful enough to actually stun her, unlike Goyle. She didn't even move this time, and Severus was flying across the forest. By the time he came to, she was gone.

* * *

"Where is she?" Sirius demanded as soon as Snape stumbled through the floo. Obviously he didn't catch her if he hadn't used the portkey. "Is she…?"

"No," Snape said gruffly. "Granger was right. She knows magic."

Sirius spent the entire day preparing. Molly was cooking. Her bedroom was dusted off. The crib was put in the attic and replaced with a bed. He bought toys, quills, ink, and parchment. Remus bought book after book about Stockholm Syndrome.

"So?" The living room began to fill with people when they realized Snape had returned, but Harriet was nowhere in sight.

Snape twisted his stiff neck until bone cracked. "So, she's already killed someone and given me a concussion. And she broke Goyle Senior's nose, but that was with her fist."

"So no one caught her?" Hermione asked slowly.

Snape rubbed at his eyes. "No. Although several dropped out of the Hunt. They would rather endure the Dark Lord's torture than risk being flattened by a tree."

"Then you should still be out there!" Sirius cried. She should have been here by now, hours ago. He should finally be able to set things right and take care of his goddaughter. "Someone could be catching her right now!"

Snape shook his head, looking exhausted. "There's been no sign of her for hours. She's not a terrified Muggle who has lived in a comfortable house her entire life. She knows what she's doing. I thought I was simply going to have to grab her."

"You're going to have to hunt her." Remus looked sick at the thought while Sirius shook his head in denial. Was Snape saying he couldn't save her?

Snape nodded slightly. "And first, I'm going to have to find out more about her…"

And what the bloody hell did he mean by that?

* * *

Severus couldn't believe Albus was permitting the mutt to follow him. He didn't have time for Black's never ending grief and questions. He had to have every upper hand he could get in order to catch Harriet.

"Did she look like Lily?" Black asked sadly as they trekked through the Forbidden Forest. "I always thought she would look like Lily."

 _Disturbingly so,_ Severus thought but refused to say so. "She has Potter's eyes. And a few of his facial features. What part of _don't talk to me_ do you not understand, Black?"

Black ignored him. "What's her voice like?" So Severus decided to do the same. "How tall is she?"

"If you shut up," Severus growled, "I'll give you the disgusting memory. You can listen to her terror filled voice all you want, Black."

Black kicked a rock and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Did he say why he took her? What did he want with a baby?"

Good question. Pettigrew had no reason to take Harriet. With his unknown ability and everyone believing him dead, he could be living it up in another country by now. Yet he had chosen to live right under Dumbledore's nose.

"Dumbledore told us of your visit," Firenze said with distaste. They were miles away from centaur territory, but the beast was looking down on them as if they were trespassing.

"You know Harriet," Severus said simply before Black could start with his bitching and moaning.

Firenze nodded, but before he could say a word, Black burst out, "And you never said anything?! We've been looking for her for seventeen years!"

Firenze glared at Severus, blaming him for Black's presence. "And have you humans destroying the Forest looking for her?"

Severus thrust out his arm to keep Black from charging at him. Centaurs never cared about humans. Firenze may have more of a heart than the others, but he would never endanger the Forbidden Forest. "What do you know about her?"

The centaur's cold gaze fell on Black, waiting for him to dramatically interrupt again. He turned away slightly and stared at setting sun. "I've only seen her a hand full of times…"

 _The girl was about seven. Tears stained her thin, dirty face as she cried out for her father. Firenze frowned and held his companion back when he raised his arrow to strike her down._

 _"She is just a child," Firenze muttered._

 _"She's one of_ _ **them**_ _," he snarled back._

 _"Go find her father," Firenze snapped. And when he was out of earshot, he mumbled, "And fight someone your own size."_

 _"Daddy!" the girl wailed. "DADDY!"_

 _Firenze walked as close to her as he could without alerting her. Unfortunately, she froze when he stepped on a twig and some leaves started to rustle on their own accord. "Were you camping, little one?"_

 _It was unlikely, but if he could get her to be quiet, he could lead her to Hagrid's without anyone from his herd noticing. The little girl wiped her nose on her sleeve and took a step back. Cautiously, she asked, "What's camping?"_

 _"Do you go to Hogwarts?" That couldn't be right. She was too young. Hogwarts students were older, weren't they?_

 _"What's Hogwarts?" The tears started flowing again, and she was about to run until Firenze acted on a hunch and took a handful of berries out of his pockets. A pair of hungry eyes instantly became fixated on them._

 _When she made to reach for them, Firenze pulled his hand away. "What's your name?"_

 _Her eyes wouldn't leave the berries. "Harriet." Firenze handed her the berries, which she sniffed before shoving them all in her mouth. She ate them so fast that she nearly choked, making him pity her._

 _"Come with—"_

 _"Harriet!" Someone, a man, was calling her name in the distance. Harriet perked up and ran, looking over her shoulder in fear to see if he was following her. Firenze was unsure of what to do. His kind did not meddle with humans…_

"I watched them from a distance after meeting her," Firenze informed them. "I tried to tell myself that they were a homeless family…"

"Yet you told Albus about her the day before the Dark Lord presented her." Severus stomped on Black's foot in an effort to shut him up. The man was practically having kittens beside him.

Firenze stomped his hooves, almost nervously. "The unicorns know her better. They were distressed because of what she had done. You know how they are with destroyed innocence."

"What do you mean?" Black asked fearfully.

"There was a man here." The centaur clopped his feet again. "Attacking a Hogwarts student. Harriet… She took the man's life."

Black shook his head in disbelief. "That-that couldn't have been, Harriet. Luna would have told us…"  
Severus tried to recall the incident. So many of his dunderheaded students were getting hurt because they were leaving Hogwarts grounds. Plus, he was exhausted. "How? What kind of magic does she know?"

Firenze frowned. "I've never seen her use magic. However, she is a very skilled archer. And I recall her arguing with her father when he was teaching her how to make traps for hunting."

"Do they argue a lot?" Severus asked. Perhaps she wasn't as brainwashed as they believed.

Firenze shrugged. "I see them once, maybe twice a year. The unicorns know her better. And I recall the Acromantula complaining about her a few years ago."

"Let's go." Black wanted to talk to giant spiders. Severus snorted at the thought. He wasn't that oaf Hagrid. Surely the blubbering idiot would take Black out of his hair.

* * *

Sirius couldn't believe that Snape was leaving after a ten minute conversation. Knowing that Harriet knew how to hunt and trap animals was not enough! Thankfully, Hagrid was always up to a hike in the Forbidden Forest.

"I can't believe I nev'r saw her," Hagrid complained as they searched for his spider friends. "Bu' you can't blame, Firenze, Sir'us. Centaurs have nearly been hunted to extinction by humans. He's righ' not to want to get involved. His own parents—"

"I don't care." Sirius tried to picture life with Harriet if she had been rescued at seven. She might die if Snape isn't the first to catch her. He had to put all of his faith into Severus Fucking Snape.

Hagrid hummed in understanding as they walked.

Aragog had died last year, but his wife and many children were still alive and kicking. Sirius tried not to look at the dead wolf stuck in a web. Good thing he didn't go without Hagrid. Even though their father was dead, they still respected his wishes and brought no harm to the half giant or his friends. The spiders quickly started to surround them, clicking as if laughing at Sirius's uneasiness.

"What brings you here, Hagrid?" one of Aragog's sons breathed out.

"Is there a girl livin' in the Forest?" Hagrid asked loudly, so as many spiders in the area could hear. "'Arriet."

Shivers ran up Sirius's spine as several hundred spiders started hissing and clicking. He heard the words "Trespasser" and "Thief." There were so many spiders that he couldn't pinpoint who was speaking.

"She is gone," Aragog's largest son said. "Which is good for her. Father said not to kill the little _pest_. He did not want to upset the unicorns, but now that Father is dead, there was no stopping us."

"We know," Hagrid yelled before Sirius could open his big mouth and get them into trouble. "We simply wanna know more abou' 'er."

Sirius didn't know spiders could growl, but that was just what the beast did. "She is a menace, a _pest_. Father wouldn't let us kill her…"

 _We do not see humans often, but the first time we saw her was about five years ago. The little vermin was stealing bits of our web. For what we don't know._

 _She saw a stag caught in one of our webs. It was struggling in vain, like they all do. As we crept towards the girl, she took out a spear and cut what was supposed to be my dinner free! She didn't turn around until she heard the clicking of my pincers._

 _"How dare you?" I yelled. "Stupid girl!"_

 _Before I could pounce on her, one of my brothers whispered, "Do not kill her! What if she's one of Hagrid's friends?"_

 _"Then Hagrid would be here to protect her!" I snapped._

 _"Why were you letting it suffer?" the girl shouted. She was brave, stupidly so. "If you were going to eat it—"_

 _I saw her spear and her clothing and figured she must be the one the centaurs complain about. Everything they said was right. "Yet you can chase down a stag for days? Is that not making it suffer? You make it suffer for days. My prey had only been stuck for an hour."_

 _The brat's face fell as she considered this. "When I do it, he doesn't know—"_

 _"Really?" I snarled. "Does it not run when you get too close? It knows and spends its last days in fear. Fear of_ _ **you!**_ _"_

 _She shook her head in denial. "He doesn't know. Not even when my arrow pierces his neck, not even when I end his suffering moments later!"_

 _With a few thundering steps, I advanced towards her until my face was mere inches from hers. The pest shook but didn't try to flee. "How do you know? Who are you? Who are you to disrupt nature?" That particular question seemed to bother her the most. "This is the way it has always been! And you dare interfere! Choosing one creature's life over another!"_

 _She finally took a step back. "Y-you shouldn't leave him there. In pain."_

 _I had had enough and made to grab her, but she was gone. In her place, a small mouse was fleeing the scene. She is a coward!_

"She's an animagus?" Sirius asked in disbelief. The spiders started whispering to themselves, debating.

A female spider, who Hagrid would later identify as Aragog's widow Mosag, stepped forward. "We do not know. My sons and daughters were unable to conclude if it was voluntary."

"It was!" the largest son growled. Several of his brothers and sisters started to argue with him. The arguing was still continuing when they left.

* * *

"Someone who can't use a wand cannot become an animagus," Severus barked when Black had returned, interrupting his plans to return to Malfoy Manor. He couldn't help it. He was exhausted and usually, being in the same room with Black was enough to set him off anyway. Now the mutt was talking to him on a regular basis. "You, of all people, should know that."

"So what?" Black yelled. "The spiders were just making up it for their own bloody amusement?"

Severus thought for a moment. A curse certainly wouldn't help her like that. But if she could do it of her own volition, she would have done it as soon as they saw her last night. Turning into a creature that size would have provided the prefect escape. Still, he had to keep this information in mind. However, he wouldn't let Black know he had found out something useful. "I don't know."

* * *

Harriet had been sleeping in trees. Very dangerous, Dad always said, but she couldn't find a cave that was unoccupied. She couldn't sleep deeply anyway. They chased her at all hours, never the same men, and they hardly ever got close enough to her to catch her, but still…

A twig snapped just as Harriet felt her eyes drooping. She had yet to be able to sleep more than two hours at a time. Sometimes she felt like she was going to pass out.

By the time Harriet could focus, a man was climbing up a tree. He had a stick in his mouth, a stick similar to the one that man used to freeze her ankle. Sleep had barely left Harriet's mind when she aimed her arrow and shot the man just above his eye.

A horrible gasp made Harriet shiver as he fell to the ground. She should put him out of his misery. It was the right thing to do, but she didn't know if there were more of them. More humans.

 _Harriet was about eleven when she heard the voices of others humans for the first time. They were so far away that she couldn't really understand what they were saying, but she still perked up. She had never seen another human before._

 _"Daddy!" she said excitedly. "Do you hear that? I hear_ _ **people!**_ _"_

 _"HARRIET!" Dad called as he chased after her, but Harriet didn't care._

 _Her friends were unicorns, Cornish pixies, and sometimes an animal called a kneazle would spend a day with her, but they would always leave. She had never had a friend she could talk to, that she could tell secrets to. What was it like to have a human friend?_

 _Dad caught her and knocked her to the ground before she could get close enough to understand what they were saying. He didn't get off of her until the voices went away._

 _Embarrassed and ashamed, Harriet scrambled to her feet and turned away so he wouldn't see her crying. Dad hated it when she cried._

 _"Crying is for babies, Harriet," he panted when he heard her sniffles. "And I've told you before. You can't go near other humans."_

 _"Why?" she whined. She had never asked why before, but then again, she had never been so close to other humans before. Until now, she had never realized how lonely she was._

 _"Do not whine," Dad said firmly. Harriet glared a tree in front of her but knew he wasn't going to answer her until she asked without whining._

 _"Why can't I go near other humans?" she asked angrily. He still didn't answer her until she sighed and said, clearly, although somewhat defeated, "Why can't I go near other humans?"_

 _"Because…" Dad walked up to her and spun her around, studying her angry face. He hesitated for a moment before telling her the truth. "Other humans Harriet… They are not like us. They…"_

 _Dad took a deep breath and gripped her shoulders tightly. "They're evil. They have become overcome by greed, and they destroy everything they touch. They are also wasteful. Humans waste everything until there is nothing left."_

 _"What do you mean?" Harriet only heard about wasting things when she didn't finish her food, which she only did when she wasn't feeling well or when she refused to eat meat because she felt bad for the animal. It was usually Dad's way of making her eat._

 _"They do not let new plants grow. Every animal in sight is killed, sometimes for only small parts of it, like just the fur or the tongue." Dad paused again. "So they have nothing left. Many of them are starving, nearly to death, and it has turned them evil."_

 _"Like Lupin and Black?" Harriet asked quietly. They gave Mummy to the Great Snake, so he could eat her._

 _Dad shook his head. "Like the Great Snake. He's their ruler. They have no more food, so they've resorted to cooking each other. They'll roast you alive, Harriet. And torture you. They'll do unspeakable things. Do you know what torture means, Harriet?"_

 _Harriet shook her head and felt sick as her father started to explain all the horrible things humans did to each other, what they'd do to her if they caught her._

Harriet felt the same disgust as she watched the man beneath her die, die because of her. As she climbed down to see if the arrow was salvageable, she saw another man walking through the forest, looking for her. She aimed another arrow, but hesitated. This man didn't see her. He wasn't coming after her like the man dying at her feet, yet she still wanted to kill him.

Once she shot the arrow, Harriet closed her eyes. Was this what it meant to be human?

* * *

A week went by before there was another sign of Harriet. Severus was exhausted, so exhausted in fact, that he fell for the trap with Lucius.

They thought it was Harriet's first "stupid" mistake. Early in the evening, they saw smoke rising from among the trees. Their eyes met, and they both broke into a full on sprint. Lucius was the victor in half of the hunts that have taken place.

But Harriet was nowhere to be found. Fish was roasting over a fire. Lucius grinned, thinking she was close, but Severus noticed something. The smoke was from the fire being put out. Was this—?

Lucius took a step closer to the fire, and Severus heard a whooshing sound as Lucius ran over to a tree that had a set of footprints leading up to it. Severus looked up to see that he was stuck in a net. Harriet didn't seem to be in the tree like he had thought. It was a trap.

Severus took a step back away from the tree, wondering if he should leave. It was every man for himself during a Hunt, and Lucius could easily free himself with magic. Or, Harriet may be close by. A few more men had died. Yaxley and Evan Rosier.

She could be waiting until he was gone, so she could kill Lucius. The Dark Lord thought that was her plan, to kill them off one by one. Even though three men had already died, their master still thought the idea was hilarious. No Death Eater had ever been killed during a Hunt before.

If he hid, perhaps she would come out, and Severus could catch her. He would stun her and use the portkey, finally bringing her back to Headquarters.

When he turned to find a hiding spot, his ankle became caught in some sort of thick vine. Severus had to keep himself from crying out as he was ripped from the ground and found himself hanging upside down.

"Sneaky bitch," Lucius muttered as he took out his wand and freed himself. With a thud, he was on the ground. "Stop by at breakfast, Severus. I'm going to get a good night's sleep for once."

Severus didn't say anything. His wand was in his pocket. He was going to wait for Harriet. She was close. He could feel it.

An agonizing twenty minutes went by before she crawled out of what he thought was a pile of rotting leaves. She was literally right next to him. Her arrow was pointed at his head.

His sweating fingers were in his pocket. One wrong move, and he'd be dead. Hell, he was already dead. Harriet was fast, so fast that he wouldn't even see it coming. He had to distract her.

"I knew you wouldn't leave food alone like that," he said, despite the numbness he was feeling from being upsidedown so long.

She looked exhausted, but a small smile touched her lips. Her arrow wasn't lowered though. In fact, she tightened her grip and adjusted her aim. Great.

"I'll take you somewhere safe." If the Dark Lord was listening, he would simply say that he was lying. _If_ he survived, that is. "No one will hurt you, and you will never be hungry again."

"You all are liars." She never lowered her arm, but her arrow started to shake. The terror in her eyes made it clear. She didn't _want_ to kill him. Or anyone for that matter. She was simply terrified.

"Cannibals," she went on. "Sexual sadists." What the bloody hell had Pettigrew told her? Severus realized she was trying to convince herself to kill him. "You'd sow my mouth and eyes shut while you defiled me. You'd—"

"Says the man who brought you here," Severus said quietly. "You were curious, weren't you? And lonely. So he told you things that would keep you from satisfying your curiosities."

"I have seen nothing to prove him wrong." Her voice was firm, and Severus heard the whistling of the arrow. He closed his eyes, knowing this was it. He was going to die failing Lily.

But she had hit the vine, and he fell to the ground with a crash. When he opened his eyes, she was gone.

Severus forced himself to stand. She was so fast that even the fish was gone, and he knew he wouldn't see her again any time soon. However tonight did hold one small victory. There was only one reason she had let him go. A part of her, no matter how small, believed him.

 **Thank you for reviewing UnscrewedUp, Guest, Dalar Rose, and Eriyum!**

 **UnscrewedUp: You'll find out why he took her when Harriet does. I could see it going both ways. Snape catching her or her making it through the six months. We'll see as the story goes! Neville is like Harry, but he's not a leader like the real Harry was, which I suppose is a big difference! He was a kid who was bullied and learned how to fight back. So he's as good at dueling as the real Harry is.**

 **So the mouse thing is from the original story** _ **The Halfblood Princess**_ **. Peter charmed her to change into a mouse if something grabbed her, and she thought it was going to eat her. Think I should stick with that or make her an animagus? So far, I want to stick with the original idea, but I also feel like it has some plot holes. What do you think?**


	3. Man versus Beast

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

Chapter 3 Man versus Beast

She thought that she could survive by hunting those that were hunting her. _A plan that was working_ , Severus thought as he walked throughout the Forest early one evening. A plan that would work for now. The full moon was in less than a week. The Dark Lord was looking forward to it.

Severus wasn't sure if Harriet was aware of it. Perhaps he should ask Pettigrew, he thought as the sun started to set. They had inquired about Harriet to everyone except the man who, unfortunately, knew her best.

For now, he was following one of Harriet's traps. Bits of red hair were found in the trees. They were very conveniently arranged in a pathway of sorts. Only an idiot would follow them. Distant screams told Severus that Harriet had found her idiot.

Still, he wasn't going to risk missing an opportunity to catch her. She might be nearby. She wasn't always. There was no sign of her when Lucius broke his leg in a hole covered in leaves and branches the other day, but if there was still a chance, he had to take it. He shouldn't have.

About a mile later, he saw Gregory Goyle Sr., who was trying to avenge his son's death. He had obviously been mauled by something. And that something was a rather large bear who was slowly emerged from a cave that was a few feet away. Severus went perfectly still.

Of course it went straight for him. Instinct tempted Severus to run, but then he remembered the memory Black retrieved from the spiders, and Firenze saying that he saw Harriet fighting with Pettigrew about hunting. Harriet loved animals. She had to be nearby to make sure it was safe.

Severus levitated the bear, not stunning it so Harriet would hear it scream and see it struggle. As soon as he saw her—

It was like being tackled by a linebacker. Severus felt the wind be knocked out of him, and vaguely heard the bear fall to the ground with a crash. However, he was more focused on Harriet's hands tightening around his throat.

Her eyes were glistening with the sorrow of what she had done, what she was doing, but fear made her keep squeezing. Severus grabbed his wand but decided to try another tactic. Force wasn't working.

The bear made to attack her, so Severus blocked its attack with a magical shield. Harriet spun around in fear and let him go.

"I'm not trying to hurt you, Harriet," he rasped, trying to find the strength to sit up. Black spots danced in his vision as he started hyperventilating from the previous lack of oxygen. She watched the bear charge at her again, only to bounce backwards because of the shield. As she walked, the shield went with her.

Haunted hazel eyes fell on him. "Does it matter to _Him_ if I'm brought alive?"

Severus pushed himself up as he started to recover from the oxygen deprivation. "No. You know that, Harriet. How many have tried to kill you these past couple of weeks?"

"Oh…" Harriet stepped closer to him, making Severus think that he had finally succeeded in earning her trust. Unfortunately, it was a trick, and she bolted in the opposite direction.

"HARRIET!" he wheezed, stunning the bear as he tried to run after her. Within ten minutes, he had lost her.

* * *

"She's killed too many," Dumbledore said at the Order Meeting the following night. Obviously, Severus thought. "Voldemort will not tolerate her for much longer. This little game he's playing is causing him to lose valuable soldiers."

"So he's going to recruit her," Black said darkly. He couldn't even grasp the reality of the situation. The Dark Lord had no use for someone who didn't know how to use a wand, someone who couldn't read, someone who didn't know what a bloody dinner roll is for Merlin's sake.

Severus glared at him. "If she keeps this up, he's going to kill her. The only thing that's stopping him is the upcoming full moon. He wants to see if she's going to be eaten."

Lupin turned green at the thought while Black shook his head. He had yet to see Harriet, and Severus wondered if the fool still pictured her as a baby. Severus wondered how she would react to werewolves. She loved animals and seemed to only kill them because she would starve without the food source. Humans, on the other hand, she tried to kill if they were simply near her.

But could he blame her? Everyone she came across was hunting her down. That combined with the vile lies Pettigrew told her were enough to drive anyone mad. But was she? That was a different matter entirely. She was intelligent, but that didn't mean she wasn't mad.

"You're going to have to gain her trust, Severus," Dumbledore said, again stating the obvious. "No one is going to be able to catch her by force."

"The full moon is in a few days," Lupin rasped. "Do you think she knows?"

Severus doubted it. It would only complicate matters further if she were bitten. Or, it could make her weaker, meaning easier to catch, which might not be an advantage, given his competition in The Hunt. Lucius was rather eager to catch her. Ever since their master had returned, the coward lived to please him.

"I don't know exactly how I'm supposed to do that," Severus said, ignoring Lupin. "I've tried. Only a few days ago—"

"You saw her?" Black barked. "And you didn't say anything?"

"I saved her life," Severus went on. "While she was in the midst of trying to strangle me. And while she found this perplexing, she still fled—"

"And you let her?" Black spat.

"She's fast!" Severus yelled, finally acknowledging him. "And strong. When she was choking me, I thought she was going to break my neck! Excuse me for being a bit winded!"

Dumbledore held up a hand to silence them. "Keep trying, Severus. Even if you just get her to trust you enough to not run away… Follow her on a broom during the full moon. Perhaps she'll trust you to take her away from the wolves."

Lupin looked positively faint at the thought. Severus didn't know why he expected these bumbling idiots to be of any help.

* * *

 _"How did Mummy die?" Harriet asked. She was about ten, and had wondered for quite some time. After she saw two rabbits mating when she was seven, Dad explained to her that everyone had a mother and a father. That he put magic into Mummy, and Harriet grew inside of her for three seasons. Then, she came out of her as a baby._

 _Ever since then, Harriet wondered why she no longer had a mother, why Dad never spoke about her before the explanation. On that day, he told her that Mummy was very beautiful and kind, that the unicorns liked to play with her too. Her name was Lily, and she looked just like Harriet, only taller. He also said that Mummy died keeping her safe._

 _Dad paused. "There was an evil monster. He was part snake, part man and called the Great Snake."_

 _Harriet froze. They were hiking through the Forest, looking for herbs and berries. "How—"_

 _"He was evil," was all Dad would say. "He wanted to swallow all of us whole. We had a friend named Sirius Black. The Great Snake found him hunting one day, and Sirius was so afraid. So afraid that he told the Great Snake that he would show him where we were sleeping in exchange for his life."_

 _"But he was our friend," Harriet said slowly. She never had a human friend before. All her friends were animals, who didn't really understand such things, although Harriet liked to think that the unicorns did._

 _Dad stared at her for a moment and then looked away. He started walking again before he continued the story. "He was selfish, and the fear of the Great Snake drove him mad. When the Great Snake found us, Mummy threw herself in front of him, so he would swallow her first. She used magic to make him burst into flames. One of the flames hit your forehead, and before I could put it out, it scarred."_

 _Harriet was silent for a long time, trying to will the stinging in her eyes to disappear. She wasn't paying attention to the ground, but Dad didn't seem bothered by the story at all. He found a bush and started picking berries. "I hate him."_

 _Dad turned away from the bush and raised his eyebrows. "The Great Snake?"_

 _Of course she did, but there was someone else she hated more. The Great Snake was evil, but their friend was supposed to be good. Mummy died because of him. "Not as much as Sirius Black."_

 _Dad was very quiet after that._

* * *

Harriet was half asleep in a cave that she found when the temperature had suddenly dropped. She bolted upright, trying to ignore the nausea she felt from her constant exhaustion. He was staring right at her. The Great Snake.

"Harriet," he greeted. "You are a much more venerable opponent than I had previously believed. I thought you would try to spend the next six months hiding. Or that you would freeze to death without Wormtail's magic."

Although she had never heard the words "venerable" or "opponent," Harriet kept her mouth shut. He was blocking the only exit, meaning she would have to be fast.

"Oh I am not here to kill you," he said jovially. "I'm here to make a deal with you."

"You've already made a deal with me," Harriet said. Behind her back, she had a sharpened stone. She could stab him in the eye and make a run for it.

"What will happen to your father if Severus were to catch you?" he asked lightly. "He will take you to my enemy. You will never see your father again."

"He's not going to catch me," Harriet hissed. Her grip tightened around the stone.

"Come near me with that stone and I will split you in two," the Great Snake said calmly, coldly. "I can see your thoughts, Harriet. I can see your memories. I can even see your dreams. Your mother had green eyes, not hazel."

She often dreamed of Mummy, that she was really alive and could save her and Dad. They'd go back to the Forest or somewhere the Great Snake could never find them. Harriet would have brothers and sisters, and she would teach them how to ride unicorns and hippogriffs. These dreams were precious, and not for the Great Snake's eyes.

"What do you want?" Harriet asked quietly.

The Great Snake took a step closer to her. Harriet didn't lean back like her body was screaming at her to. He saw this, the tenseness but the determination in her eyes, and seemed pleased. "If Severus catches you and doesn't bring you to me, I'm going to meet with you in your dreams. I will teach you special magic to spy on the people he takes you to, and you will tell me everything. Or I will kill your father."

Severus. The man who kept insisting that he would take her somewhere safe. Harriet was hesitant to believe him. The only reason that she did was that the Great Snake said he was in love with Mummy. And…

"You don't trust him." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. He had said that himself, all those nights ago.

The Great Snake didn't seem too bothered by it either. "Can you fully trust anyone, Harry?"

Harriet almost said Dad, but he brought her here. There had to be a reason. The evil radiating off the Great Snake was like a sickness. He infected her father, which is why he probably knew what she was going to say. "You can trust me."

In a gust of wind, he was gone. Was he infecting her with evil magic too?

* * *

There were fifteen werewolves in Greyback's pack. Severus was surveying the forest on a broom tonight. Out of all of the Dark Lord's "loyal" servants, he was the only one who dared to venture out during the full moon. He wondered what Harriet thought was happening as he flew just above the trees, watching the werewolves sniff the air to try to find her.

She rarely stayed in one place. The forest surrounding Malfoy Manor wasn't particularly large. He was surprised she hadn't found herself near the Manor. Perhaps she had and quickly retreated back into the woods. Severus wondered what it was like, not understanding what a building was, what anything was really.

After two hours, Severus saw smoke. Although he was flying towards it anyway, he thought it was another one of her ruses until he saw an entire tree become engulfed in flames before falling to the ground.

Harriet was using it as a barrier between her and three werewolves. When she saw that the wild flames weren't going to stop them, she started climbing a nearby tree, but then she saw Severus, and flung herself off it, rashly trying to fling herself onto the adjacent one.

Severus gripped his broom tightly as he flew towards her as fast as he could. She tried to grab a branch, and with a terrified scream started falling. A howl signaled what was waiting for her below.

"Let me go!" she screamed when he grabbed her wrist. Several high pitched screams nearly made him drop her as he tried to drag her up. Perhaps it was the flickering of her flames, but her nose seemed a bit smaller.

They were still flying, still struggling when Severus realized the arms he was grabbing were suddenly a lot furrier. "Don't!" he bellowed, knowing that she wouldn't listen but that he couldn't let go to grab his wand. "The fall will kill—"

He tried to catch the little auburn mouse as it tumbled to the ground. He felt like a bloody seeker as he raced after it, and he was no James Potter. A snowy white owl caught her first, and Severus realized too little too late that he flew straight into the ground.

Another howl filled the air as Severus lost consciousness. Perhaps the pain was making him hallucinate, but he thought he saw Harriet change back in the owl's clutches.

* * *

He woke up in a cave and tried not to scream when he realized he was completely numb from the neck down. Harriet seemed to be making a stew of some sorts. The snowy owl was sitting on her knee as she stirred her meal.

"I gave you unicorn tears," she said quietly. "They're only for emergencies."

"I'm paralyzed," he rasped. So she might as well kill him now.

Harriet stroked the owl's feathers. "I gave her some too. Because when I changed back, I broke her legs. I didn't have time to brew the unicorn hair…"

"Harriet," he said hoarsely. "There's a watch on my wrist…" He paused, realizing that she was stirring the stew with his wand. "If you give me the wand and guide my hand—"

"Is it true?" she asked sternly. "What the Great Snake told me about you and Mummy?" The Great Who? She must mean the Dark Lord. Severus briefly wondered what the monster of a man would think of the name.

"Yes." He couldn't deny it. The lie would be like spitting on Lily's grave. "My jealous actions because of it led to her death."

Harriet studied him. "If you had a choice, would you do it again?"

"Of course not!" he yelled with more strength than he thought he had. She seemed surprised by this. No, she was _fascinated_ by his regret. It wasn't really surprising, considering what Pettigrew had told her about humans. She thought he was worse than an animal, and considering the truth, she wasn't entirely wrong. "Listen, Harriet. I don't want you to die. It is my fault that your mother and father di—"

"My father's alive." She regarded him coldly. "Your people bewitched him. As that man was dying, he bewitched Dad to bring me here."

There was so much she didn't know. Her entire life was a lie, and Severus had to go along with it. He said nothing as she picked up a bowl that seemed to be made of the same clay like material that the pot was made of. She winced as she burned her hands slightly as she dipped it in.

"It's rabbit," she said as she put the bowl to his lips. It tasted terrible, but Severus forced himself to drink it and not spit the watery stew in her face. He doubted she would activate the portkey if he did that. "It's too cold to find anything good to put in it."

His finger twitched, and Harriet glared at it. The unicorn tears must be healing him, which she seemed to resent. As much as Severus abhorred most people, he couldn't imagine not speaking to anyone for weeks on end.

"I'm trying to save you from them," he tried yet again. "What were you planning to do? Kill them all?"

"Not the wolves," she muttered. His finger twitched again, and she backed away, preparing to flee.

"Those aren't wolves," he warned. "They're werewolves. They'll eat you... So you do not value human life at all?"

That struck a chord. How many men had she killed in less than a month? At least five. She looked away and stroked the owl's feathers. "I need to live the six cycles, so I can save my dad."

Pettigrew. The only "family" Harriet had. The only one she trusted, and the only person she loved besides Lily, who was dead. She didn't even know of James Potter's existence. All of this carnage was for Pettigrew, and she couldn't even fathom that he would do this to her without being "bewitched."

"You believe me when I say that I can take you to a safe place, don't you?" Severus asked softly.

Harriet didn't answer. "I can't leave my dad with the Great Snake."

"He is not your father!" Severus yelled and sat up before he could stop himself. He didn't want her to know how fast the unicorn tears were working. "Fuck!"

She bolted, out of his sight before he could stand. But it didn't matter. The short conversation with her inspired him. She wanted Pettigrew? Well he was going to give him to her.

 **Thank you for the reviews Guest and Mandarrin!**

 **Any idea what Severus is planning? ;)**


	4. Catching his Prey

Chapter 4 Catching his Prey

"Why did you take Harriet?" Severus asked quietly. Beady rat-like eyes darted around the Manor as Severus cornered him. He had a plan, but on the off chance that someone was watching, he was feigning slipping up. They would be too busy reporting him to the Dark Lord to think about what he was really doing. If there were any copycats, it wouldn't work.

The rat man squealed when Severus shoved him against the wall. He grabbed Pettigrew by his hair and pulled his head back, exposing his throat, so Severus could jam his wand into it. "Well?"

"I-I-I…" Pettigrew gasped as Severus pull his head back even further. "I kn-kn-knew our Lord would return."

"So you were raising livestock for him?" Severus asked lightly. "How clever."

With one hand still in the coward's hair, Severus shoved him to the ground. His cowering was almost like convulsions, so he didn't notice his attacker pocketing a handful of his hair. "P-p-please! Don't hurt me!"

Severus considered for a moment before pointing his wand at the man's temple. " _Oblivate!_ Someone hexed you in the back of the head. You don't know whom."

* * *

Harriet was trying to find some fruit or herbs, something besides meat. Snow was up to her ankles at the moment, so she didn't have much faith. She didn't want to spend too much time out in the open though, so she was about to turn in when she heard someone calling her name.

"Harriet!"

"Dad!" she breathed before sprinting in the direction she heard the sound coming from. "DAD!"

"Harriet!" It really was him! He escaped! He escaped, and they could finally go home. Harriet ran for him and flung her arms around him, wanting to weep with joy.

Then the world started to spin.

* * *

 _"YOU!"_

"No, you idiot!" She recognized that voice… and it wasn't Dad's. Harriet pulled away to see it still looked like Dad though. Then, he pulled something out of his pocket, put it to his lips, and started changing.

Harriet took several steps back until she bumped into a man she didn't recognize. A man with wide grey eyes and long black hair. The man that was Dad was still changing, but Harriet was starting to recognize him. Severus.

With a scream, Harriet charged at him. She didn't know where she was, but she couldn't let him win. She couldn't.

"Harry!" the other man yelled when she shoved Severus against the wall. Someone else grabbed her arms and pulled her away. They were going to kill her! She couldn't let them kill her.

Harriet kicked Severus in the face when the other person started pulling her away. She supposed it was a woman, because the voice sounded higher, similar to hers. "Snape, get out of the way!"

The woman tucked her arms oddly into Harriet's and squished her against the wall. She felt like she was being squished, but no matter how much Harriet struggled, she couldn't move.

"Let me go!" she screamed. When that didn't work, she screamed at the highest pitch she could, hoping to make the woman cover her ears. It didn't work either. "LET ME GO!"

"Not until you calm down." The woman struggled with Harriet and leaned all her weight into her. "My name is Tonks. Harry, we're trying to help you."

"Are you hurting her?" the man asked worriedly.

"No," the woman, Tonks, grunted. "She's just uncomfortable. Harriet, I'll let you go. You just have to calm down. We aren't like those men in the forest. We're going to keep you safe from them."

Harriet tried to turn her head to look around, but she couldn't, and her arms were starting to ache from being in that position for too long. She had to get out of this and figure out how to get her dad.

"Change and I'll stun you," the woman said when she started to change into a mouse. She doubted she would get very far anyway. If she became a mouse too often, her bones started to hurt. Her nose would bleed, and she would have a terrible headache for hours.

Harriet heard footsteps and tried to throw herself backward when Severus started talking to her. "I know you believed me when I said I was taking you somewhere safe, Harriet. She's going to let you go when you stop fighting."

"I need to save my dad!" she growled. "I'm not going to let you win!"

"He took you willingly," Severus said calmly. "And you are nowhere near the forest now."

Harriet was tempted to demand to be taken back, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. She forced herself to relax, but the woman didn't let go. "Remus has the baby upstairs?"

Someone must have nodded because she let go. Harriet spun around and flattened herself against the wall. It was Severus, a man, and a woman. Severus and the woman had their sticks out. Harriet stared, not knowing what to say. Nothing was going to work.

"Do you want ice?" the woman asked guiltily. "My name is Tonks. And this is Sirius."

Sirius Black. Dad told her about Sirius Black, the one who gave Mummy to the Great Snake. Harriet tried to keep her face blank when she looked at him. Remus was familiar too. He was the one who went mad and started eating people.

"What do you know about Black?" Severus asked suspiciously. Harriet didn't respond. "Because as much as I loathe the man, I can guarantee that it is false."

"Where's my dad?" Harriet asked slowly.

"I'm assuming still at Malfoy Manor," Severus said dryly. "Safe and sound while he thinks you're trying your best to survive in the cold. When Pettigrew presented you to the Dark Lord, Harriet, he thought his master was going to kill you."

He was lying. What had the Great Snake said? That he was in love with Mummy. He was probably jealous of Dad. He hated her dad. Harriet knew it, and that fact was easier to accept than what Severus was telling her.

Harriet scanned the area, but she recognized not a thing. Even their clothes looked funny, not suitable at all for winter. The man and the woman, Sirius and Tonks, were giving her the same pitying looks that Dad gave her when she fell and scraped herself particularly badly.

"She's very food motivated," Severus told the other two. Harriet narrowed her eyes but couldn't deny that she was hungry. She was always hungry, ever since she could remember.

Sirius, Sirius Black, forced himself to smile. "Molly has been cooking all day. C'mon, Harry! We can talk over dinner!"

They started to walk, but Harriet didn't follow, so they stopped. Severus frowned. "You're safe here, Harriet. I've been trying to bring you here ever since the Hunt began. We've talked about it a few times, and I know you believed me then."

"And I told you I needed to help my dad." Did she believe him? As much as Harriet wanted to say no, she did. Dad said she was too trusting, and that humans were never trustworthy, but he saved her from the bear… and the wolves. If he wanted her dead, he would have let her die then.

Sirius Black made a face at her words and stomped away, making Harriet feel relieved. Severus saw this and repeated his words from earlier. "Black will cause you no harm, Harriet. Whatever you were told about him is a lie."

"It was not!" Harriet shouted. She advanced towards Severus again, but the woman grabbed her arms. "He's a coward! He gave Mummy away to the Great Snake!"

"Harry," the woman said firmly, "that is **not** true." Then, she added in a hushed voice even though Harriet was closer than Severus, "This isn't going to work, Snape. She's completely brainwashed. We might have to put her in St. Mungo's for a while."

"Then I may as well have left her in the forest!" Severus hissed.

 _Put her in St. Mungo's_. Harriet had no idea what she was talking about but figured it meant they wanted to force her to live somewhere else. Away from them. She remembered the deal she made with the Great Snake. If she did what he said, then Dad would be safe. She couldn't do what he said if she wasn't there to spy on them.

Although the words felt disgusting to say, especially about Sirius Black, Harriet said as calmly as she could, "I'm sorry."

Severus raised his eyebrows. "Are you now?" Then, he muttered, almost to himself, "I never thought Lily's child would be a Slytherin…"

"Don't let Sirius hear you say that…" Tonks hesitated but let her go. "You can't hurt anyone here, Harry. You-you just can't."

Harriet didn't say anything as she was lead to another area. Sirius Black was there with another man. Tonks made a face at him, and he held up his hands in surrender. "Molly is with him. You know she wouldn't let anything happen to him. And Neville is training with Ron and Hermione a few doors down."

Sirius Black elbowed him, causing him to chuckle. For some reason, the man held out his hand and let it fall to his side when Harriet stared at him. "My name is Remus, Harry. I'm so happy to be meeting you again."

 _I had a friend once. His name was Remus Lupin, and one winter, when food was low, he went mad and started hunting and eating other humans. There are so many others like him, Harriet. That's why you can never try to find humans._ _They'll hunt you down and won't even bother to kill you before cooking you._

"Harriet. HARRIET!" Severus's shouting made her jump. She didn't realize she was shaking until he steadied her by grabbing her shoulders. "This is a safe place…"

But her eyes fell on the meat sitting on the table. It was large, definitely not a rabbit or bird. Was it a person?

"Are you hungry?" Remus Lupin asked gently, but suddenly, for once, Harriet wasn't. She couldn't take her eyes off the meat.

"It's ham." Severus let go of her shoulders, allowing Harriet to take a step back. "It comes from a pig."

Harriet didn't know what either of those words meant. In a panic, she didn't ask. She just assumed, and she couldn't say anything because she needed to stay here, for Dad. There was nothing she recognized. The area was set up like the place where the Great Snake made her sit through a meal, but at the time, she didn't know what anything was either.

"Here." Tonks pulled out an object that, if Harriet could correctly recall, she was supposed to sit on. Everyone was staring, so she obeyed without fuss. If she could just get to Dad and figure out how to break the spell he was on…

She was not eating that meat or any meat during her stay here. Harriet grimly swore this to herself as she sat in that seat and everyone else followed suit. Severus was watching her. Well, everyone was, but he was the only one that she knew, the only one she was trying to force herself not to trust.

Sirius Black cleared his throat. "Harry, we-we've been trying to help you all this time, and we know it's been terrible for you…"

Harriet finally tore her eyes away from the meat. She couldn't help but say, "It was probably terrible for my mum too. When the Great Snake swallowed her."

Sirius Black had the decency to pale, and Tonks put a comforting hand on his arm. She was trying to comfort **him**. Harriet didn't know how much longer she could bear it.

* * *

Pettigrew had her very fixated on cannibalism. Severus supposed he was playing on her biggest fear, given that she was surrounded by magical predators that wouldn't hesitate to eat her. The rat wanted her to stay away from people, so he turned them into monsters.

As soon as Lupin introduced himself, Severus knew that she was specifically told that he would eat her. She thought the ham was part of a human, and it didn't help that she had never heard of a pig.

"So Harriet…" Nymphadora was ready to explode with worry for her baby. Severus doubted the girl would harm a person who she thought wouldn't bring harm to her, but given the girl's track record, he couldn't blame the young mother. "What do you like to do for fun?"

"I garden with my dad," Harriet said flatly.

"He's not—!"

"Sirius," Lupin hissed. He forced himself to smile brightly. "Did you know we have a greenhouse, Harry? Perhaps we can start our own little garden."

Harriet frowned, and Severus found himself sickly looking forward to whatever insult she was about to hurl at Lupin for speaking to her. But something was forcing her to be civil, something Severus was desperate to find out. "What's a house?"

Despite all the information Severus had given them, the Three Stooges were in shock at Harriet's lack of knowledge. Lupin, the "brains" of the trio, opened and closed his mouth several times.

"Well," Nymphadora said slowly, "you're in one. It's a place that holds things, houses them. The greenhouse is houses plants. This house houses people."

"Like your cave," Severus explained. "Except there's water that will never make you sick. We can store more food. You'll have your own space, a comfortable place to sleep."

The look she gave him was Potter's, the look he gave Severus when Lily payed attention to him instead. It was a look that said, _You may be winning... for now._ She most certainly had a plan.

Severus watched as Nymphadora loaded her plate with food, and Harriet forced herself to eat. She still wouldn't touch the ham, or the piece of corn that touched it. Black clearly thought her infantile, and Lupin's pity was coming off him in waves. Severus hoped it wouldn't cloud their judgement.

* * *

Harriet was afraid of the contraption called a toilet, but there was no other way to get rid of her waste. She quickly learned how to use a door, but none of the ones she opened so far lead a forest. There were a few she couldn't open, however.

"You can sleep on this," Tonks said gently. "After I show you how to use the bathtub. We have clothes for you, although they may be too big…"

They thought she was animal like. Harriet could tell by the sweet, slowness of their voices and how Tonks was rather cautious with her. Animals couldn't think like us, Dad said. They didn't communicate, and they weren't very smart. Sometimes, Harriet didn't believe Dad. Pixies could talk.

The bathtub was nice though. The water didn't make her shiver, and the soap smelled like flowers and made her skin tingle nicely. Tonks washed her hair, and Harriet liked to think it was something Mummy would have done for her.

"You're so thin," Tonks whispered when she gave her clothes that didn't seem to come from furs. Then, she laughed to herself. "Listen to me, sounding like Molly! Oh, well, I'm sure you're tired, Harry. It-it will be better in the morning. I promise." She pointed to a large, rectangular object. "Sleep on this, love. It's a bed."

She smiled awkwardly and then left, shutting the door behind her. Harriet stared at the bed and forced herself to sit on it. The Great Snake said he would talk to her in her dreams, and as much as Harriet wanted to save Dad, she wasn't very eager to go to sleep. Still, she knew she had to lay down and do what the Great Snake said. She stared at the sky for a while, too preoccupied with her thoughts to wonder where the clouds and the stars went.

Remus Lupin didn't seem mad. And Sirius Black didn't try to give her to the Great Snake out of fear. Dad did.

 _He didn't. He was bewitched,_ Harriet told herself as her eyes started to droop. _He was bewitched…_

 _"Harriet… Harriet!"_ It was incredibly dark. Harriet didn't know such darkness existed. The only color was thin, wispy fog that was starting to take shape. _"Harriet!"_

Faintly, she could hear a strange, high pitched noise. It wasn't any animal Harriet had ever heard. Whatever it was, it was taking Harriet away from the Great Snake. She knew she should ignore it, but Harriet focused on the noise.

Harriet gasped and opened her eyes. She couldn't slow her breathing as she wiped the sweat off her face. There was a terrible burning feeling on her forehead, like something was stabbing her. What was that noise?

She definitely wasn't going back to sleep. Harriet forced herself out of bed to follow the noise. Was there an animal nearby? Perhaps it could help her…

"I told you to keep him in the room," Tonks hissed as Harriet leaned against the door to listen. As quietly as she could, Harriet opened the door slightly so she could peek through.

Remus Lupin was holding something small and whatever it was, it was making the noise. He petted its head and shushed it. It kind of looked like a person. "He likes me to walk him up and down the hallway when he's fussy."

"We don't know what she's capable of." Tonks spun around and pointed at her door, jumping when she saw Harriet watching them. She threw herself in front of Remus Lupin. "Go back to bed, Harry."

That was the last thing she wanted to do. Harriet opened the door wider, causing Tonks to take her stick out. "What's that?"

Tonks blinked in surprise. "N-nothing. Go back to bed, Harry."

Harriet stared for a moment. She couldn't tell them the real reason she couldn't sleep. "It's too loud. Dad says it's not nice to keep pets when they want to go home."

"Dora," Remus Lupin said in exasperation. "Harry, he's—"

"Don't!" Tonks yelled fearfully, causing the creature to scream louder. "Go back to bed, Harry."

"She is not going to harm your baby, Nymphadora." Severus appeared behind another door, looking exhausted. Tonks glared at him. "Harriet, Lupin and Nymphadora had a baby a few months ago. It's crying. Go back to bed."

"A baby?" Harriet repeated and leaned to the side to get a better look. She had never seen a human baby before. Tonks blocked her line of vision.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Nymphadora, the only people she has harmed were trying to kill her. As an auror, you should understand. In fact, she saved my life not too long ago. Let her see your spawn so she can go to bed."

"You see the way she looks at Sirius," Tonks spat.

"Yes," Severus said dryly. "The same way I look at Black. There are three wizards here, and she doesn't have any weapons. Let her see so I can try to get some fucking rest."

Tonks narrowed her eyes at Harriet and with such fierceness that Harriet nearly jumped out of her skin, said, "Back up."

But she stepped out of the way to let her see what Remus Lupin was holding, a baby. He was crying as Lupin shushed and bounced him in such a loving way that Harriet knew that the man wasn't mad. But Dad said he was. That he ate people. Harriet felt her heart sink to her stomach when she realized that wasn't true. He would never hurt anyone, unlike Harriet, who Tonks didn't want near the baby.

Harriet looked at her feet, and then practically ran behind her door.

* * *

His Dark Mark continuously burned. Severus felt like the skin on his arm was being peeled back layer by layer with a hot pair of scissors. The Dark Lord had clearly discovered that both he and Harriet were missing. After the incident with the infant, Severus laid in his bed for a few hours before giving up on sleeping.

And of course, sleepless hazel eyes were watching him when he tried to stumble to the shower. When she realized it was only him, she opened the door and came out. It was strange seeing her in a t-shirt that was falling at her shoulders and pajama pants that were pooling at her ankles. Someone he saw as ridiculously strong suddenly looked sickly and weak.

"Your arm's shaking," she said in a way that told Severus was she was thinking the same thing about him.

"Would you look at that?" Severus drawled. "Go to bed, Harriet. No one else will be up any time soon."

Because she was Potter's daughter, she ignored him, gently trying to examine his arm and causing him to jump back in pain. Her eyes popped out of her head. "I'm sorry! I'm—"

"Shut up!" Her touch made the Mark start to smoke, and if Severus wasn't in such utter agony, he would have been rather curious. "Leave me alone, Harriet."

Her tired face filled with hurt, almost making Severus feel guilty. He was the only familiar part of this world he thrust her into, and he wasn't even that familiar to her. The only person she was familiar with was Pettigrew, and honestly, she didn't really know him either. Everything she knew was a lie.

"I can help," she tried.

"No, you can't," he said coldly.

If she wasn't James Bloody Potter's daughter, that would have been the end of it. She would have been too hurt to respond and secluded herself in her room for the rest of the morning. Instead, her pout turned into a scowl, and she forcibly grabbed his good wrist to yank him into her room.

"When Dad's arm hurt like that…" She paused and picked up the furs that she was wearing when she first arrived. Upon closer inspection, Severus realized that it seemed to be made up of many pockets. Harriet opened a rather large one and pulled out a fist full of unicorn hair. "This helped."

Severus remained silent as she slowly pushed up his sleeve. He wasn't surprised to see that his arm was swollen since it was in so much pain that he couldn't move it. She was careful not to touch the Mark as she wrapped long unicorn hair around it. The pain ebbed away until it was slightly worse than bearable, and Harriet frowned when the hair went from white to eggshell.

"It usually takes longer for it to change color." She seemed fascinated and turned back to her furs. "Maybe if I add ground—"

"Harriet…" Severus swallowed when she turned and looked up at him. Her face was mere inches from his, like she was trying to stare into his soul. "Th-thank you."

"Harry?" He never thought he would be relieved to hear Black's voice. "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing." Severus cleared his throat. "Apparently Harriet has experience with Dark Marks. The Dark Lord has not taken my betrayal lightly." He held up his arm to provide Black with evidence as he brushed passed him.

"Stay out of her room," Black growled. Then, like the demented idiot that he was, he brightened and turned to Harriet. "Time for breakfast!"

* * *

The baby was in the area she was lead to, where she forced herself to eat last night. Again, Remus Lupin was caring for him, and again, Harriet felt guilty. Nothing was like she was told…

"There's something I want to show you," Sirius Black pressed. Harriet wasn't sure how she felt about him, given her confusion about Remus Lupin. He seemed very excitable, no emotion was half felt. "It's called a picture." He pointed to an image of a woman with hair like Harriet's, who was holding a baby that was a bit bigger than Lupin's baby. "She's holding you and…"

A man who she didn't recognize came into the image. He had black hair that stuck up in different directions. As lovingly as Lupin, the man ran a hand through the baby's fluffy orange hair. Then, he leaned in and kissed the woman Sirius Black said was Mummy.

"Sirius!" Tonks hissed as Harriet stared at the picture. The more she watched the image, the more her blood boiled. She clenched her fists as she tried to keep her temper in check. This was a trick. Because Sirius Black was a liar.

"Mummy only had one husband," Harriet said through clenched teeth.

"Yes, she did," Sirius Black said slowly.

"So you're a liar," Harriet snapped as the objects called plates started to shake. Some of the food turned black, and Tonks picked up her baby and left. Keeping her temper in check was proving rather difficult, causing Harriet to feel like a horrible person. She never wanted to hurt anyone until those men started hunting her in that Forest. Now, she wanted nothing more than to attack Sirius Black. She was becoming a monster, just like them.

When Severus put a hand on her shoulder, Harriet jumped. His cold eyes were on Sirius Black. "What made you think this was a good idea? She hasn't even been here for twelve hours, Black."

"I…" The other man, the traitor, seemed flustered. "It's not fair. To James."

Severus's lip curled at the mention of "James." "I'm sure he'd want his daughter to have time to adjust. Try to wrap your pea-sized brain around how terrifying this must be for her and allow her to figure out how to use a fucking fork before you tell her that her entire life is a coward's fantasy."

They were talking about her as if she weren't there, angering Harriet further. She wanted nothing more than to see the sun, to play with unicorns and pixies. Harriet stormed about the house, trying to open door after door, but the ones that she could open led to nowhere. She just wanted to get outside.

"Harriet." Severus. All of this was his fault. Suddenly, Harriet couldn't take it anymore. She forgot all about Dad and the Great Snake and lunged at Severus.

* * *

Black was exceeding expectations with his idiocy. The girl needed time. She was obviously intelligent. Brainwashed and bat shit insane but intelligent. Eventually, she would understand what Pettigrew had done to her, but she needed time. Anyone would.

So Black decided to give her all of twelve hours. When Harriet growled and stomped off, the mutt was tripping over himself to try to chase after her, cursing at Severus when he grabbed the dog's arm.

"She does not trust you," Severus trusts. "She is separated from the only one she trusts and—"

"And she shouldn't trust him," Black yelled desperately as he ripped his arm from Severus's grasp. "I wanted to give her proof!"

"She has never seen a photograph!" Severus snapped. "Has no idea of the concept or that the image actually occurred!"

"Where are you going?" Black barked.

"Mars," Severus drawled. When Black made to follow, he held up a hand. "I'm the closest she has to familiar. Wait."

Black obviously didn't like that, but as much as Severus loathed to admit it, he wasn't as idiotic as he seemed. He turned into a dog and was practically at his heels as Severus searched for Harriet.

She figured out that the front door was an exit but didn't understand that there were wards preventing her from opening it. Harriet bit her lip as she pulled at the knob with all her strength, and Severus vaguely wondered if she'd be able to figure out a Muggle lock.

"Harriet." The fury was obvious in her eyes, and the restraint that she kept for most of the night was gone. Severus wasn't at all surprised when she charged at him. It was his fault that she was trapped here after all. Her hands were on his throat, but she didn't tighten them. "This isn't you, Harriet."

"I need to help my dad," she growled.

"But I know this isn't how you want to," Severus went on cautiously. He didn't doubt that she was strong enough to snap his neck. What he did doubt was that she actually wanted to. She was terrified, and therefore, constantly in survival mode. "You didn't want to kill those men. Just like you don't want to harm me. It's not _you_ , Harriet. You were scared for your life, and it made you do terrible things, but you are not a terrible person."

"I need to help my dad," she repeated through clenched teeth.

"But you don't want to help him like this," Severus pressed. "You aren't a killer, Harriet. You're not a monster. You are nothing like what Pettigrew told you that humans were like. You are simply scared and confused because you know that no one here is going to harm you, so you can't bring yourself to harm them. You are not betraying Pettigrew, Harriet. You are feeling safe for the first time in months."

Slowly, almost agonizingly so, Harriet slid her hands away from his neck. His words moved her, which was his plan, of course. He needed her to trust him. What he didn't expect (or need) was for Harriet to stand on her tip toes and kiss him.

He didn't pull away until Black started growling.

 **Hey! I missed the** _ **Halfblood Princess**_ **type fluff to this story, so I figured I'd start adding it in! But next time, Harriet will see Voldemort in her dreams! Any requests for future chapters?**

 **Thank you for reviewing spider2016!**

 **By the way, I started a Harry/OC story called** _ **Anonymous**_ **if you want to check that out! I just updated chapter 5!**


	5. Harriet the Hunter

**Harry Potter isn't mine.**

Chapter 5 Harriet the Hunter

The wolf-like creature was growling, making Harriet turn away from Severus. He had stiffened at the sound, but Harriet wasn't particularly frightened until it changed to Sirius Black. She posed to fight him, but instead, Black charged at Severus.

" _She_ kissed _me_ , you fool!" he yelled as Black slammed him into the nearest wall. The dog turned man started screaming words that Harriet didn't recognize like "fucking pervert."

Harriet found herself stunned as Lupin came running into the scene and pulling Black off of Severus. Although they were friends, he struggled and continued to yell what could only be obscenities. Harriet watched in half fascination and half horror.

"He fucking kissed her, Remus!" Black screamed.

" _She_ kissed me," Severus corrected, as if it mattered.

Lupin looked torn. "I don't think Severus would do that in front of you, Padfoot, even if he wanted to."

"I kissed him," Harriet said slowly. Now Black and Lupin were giving her pitying looks. Severus took the opportunity to roughly shove Black, who, almost halfheartedly, shoved him back.

"Harry…" Lupin shushed Black, who opened his mouth. "He's… much older than you. He's your parents' age. It… It's not right."

Harriet narrowed her eyes. "My dad said that if there were more humans that were uncorrupted by evil, that I would be able to mate with whoever I pleased."

"Oh God," Severus groaned.

"Severus is uncorrupted by evil," Harriet went on.

"And we are?" Black laughed crazily.

Harriet looked at him blankly. Lupin already had a mate, so he must be saying… "I don't want to have sex with you. I want to—"

"Don't finish that sentence," Severus snapped as Black's mouth hung open.

"Sirius sees you as a daughter, Harry," Lupin said quietly. "We both do… And I'm sure in a way, Severus does too, after all these months looking after you. What you are… Such a relationship with Severus is inappropriate. He is much older than you and was… dear _friends_ with your mother."

Severus retreated to his room without another word. Harriet was starting to like this place less and less.

* * *

They ate so much! At first, Harriet was happy not to be so hungry, but by the end of her second day, her stomach hurt. They ate three times a day! Some of them more! Severus was nowhere to be found either.

"There's a few more people here that would like to meet you," Tonks said as Harriet struggled to even start the final meal of the day. She ignored the awkwardness that was radiating off Tonks's mate and Black. "They're your age. I think it would be nice to have some friends your age."

She motioned forward, and three people emerged from another room, a man with similar hair to hers, a woman with curly hair, and another man with brown hair. Harriet frowned at what Tonks said. Friends her age. This was because of what happened with Severus, which seemed to bother everyone to no end. Harriet soured.

"Hello," the brown haired boy said. "My name is Neville… We've been trying to rescue you for a long time."

But Harriet was on the defensive. She could be with whoever she pleased. "I am not a maiden in need of saving."

Even though she meant to be nasty, the woman giggled. "My name is Hermione, Harriet. And… I suppose I agree with you."

"You wanted to leave her out in the bloody forest," Black grumbled.

"Ron." The red haired boy held his hand out to Harriet and made a face at her when she only stared at it.

"She's never been introduced to people until recently," Lupin explained before turning to Harriet. "He simply wanted to shake hands, Harriet."

Shaking hands sounded ridiculous, and Harriet was not about to look foolish. She was sure that they already believed her thoughts were animal-like, meaning slow and simple. "I'm not hungry."

"Then perhaps you'd like to spend some time with your new friends," Lupin tried. "Neville would love to show you the greenhouse. Herbology is one of his favorite subjects."

Harriet frowned. She didn't even know them. Not like the unicorns and pixies… and Dad. "They're not my friends."

The red haired boy, Ron, laughed, causing the woman named Molly to give him a dirty look. "What?"

"The greenhouse has plants," Tonks said sweetly. "I'm sure you miss nature, cooped up in here. Perhaps it would be nice to let them show you around at bit?"

Harriet wanted to stubbornly say no. She was exhausted and hated this place more and more as time passed. But nature meant she wouldn't be confined by this _house_. If she could only escape, perhaps she could return to the forest and continue her previous bargain with the Great Snake. There weren't that many moon cycles left that she would have to endure.

Very reluctantly, Harriet forced herself to say as politely as she could, "That would be nice."

* * *

Neville was ashamed to admit, even to himself, that she was rather beautiful, in a fierce sort of way. The way Remus and Sirius described Harriet made it seem like she had the mind of a child.

His friends didn't trust her. Ron thought she was stark raving mad and seemed torn between fleeing and laughing at the way she spoke and held an obvious distrust of them. Hermione observed her silently, almost coldly, as they walked slowly to the greenhouse.

Neville admired how her face lit up at the greenhouse, how she smiled to herself at the plants she recognized and tenderly examined the ones that she didn't. Harriet bent downed and sniffed a flower that was often used to make a tea that cured a sore throat.

She seemed so kind and gentle that Neville felt bad for her when she found the end of the greenhouse and put her hand on the glass. Harriet gazed sadly outside, desperately wanting to be out there. Surely, Sirius and Remus wouldn't be against letting her out for a bit.

"Holy shit!" Ron yelled. Harriet acted like she was walking away from the back glass wall of the greenhouse. She did her best to come off as defeated, and it certainly worked on Neville. Before he even realized what had happened, Harriet spun around and charged at the wall, slamming into it and causing the glass to crack.

Hermione was ready for this as soon as the greenhouse had been suggested and had her wand pointed at Harriet as she tried yet again to break the wall. "There are wards that will keep you from leaving the property, Harriet. But I will stun you if try that again." She paused and explained, "You won't be able to move."

Harriet regarded Hermione just as coldly as she was. "I need to save my dad."

Hermione blinked in surprise when Harriet started running for the glass again, but Neville held up a hand to stop her from stunning the other girl. He called out, "You'll kill all the plants." She stopped mid-run. "If you break the glass, it will be too cold for them."

Harriet tilted her head to the side. So she was a lot kinder than everyone thought. She cared about the plants almost as much as Neville did. Or at least, so he thought.

"Then let me out," she growled. "Or I'll kill all your plants, and you'll have nothing to eat. You'll start eating each other, and—"

 _"Stupefy,"_ Hermione said, almost lazily. She had just enough time to look shocked before she was stunned.

Ron walked over to her frozen form. "I heard she kissed Snape. The girl's mental!"

"Honestly, Ron." Hermione shook her head. "Of all the things she's done, that's the least troubling! I'd keep your distance, Neville. I saw the way—"

Neville glared at her to shut her up. He'd rather Ron remain ignorant of the fact that he was admiring Harriet. "She's disturbed and worried for the only family she thinks she has. She needs time."

"She needs the Janus Thickey Ward, that's what she nee…" The words died on Ron's lips as he said them, remembering that that was where Neville's parents were. "Let's, uh, get her inside…"

* * *

Granger hit her with a stunner to the chest. Twenty minutes later, and Harriet could only whimper as she tried to force herself to move. A revival spell made her cry out in pain and everyone was in a panic. Since he wanted nothing more than to hide until Harriet was thirty, Severus reluctantly came down from his room. With Poppy at Hogwarts, he was the closest they had to a healer until she arrived.

Severus put two fingers to her neck to check her pulse, ignoring look Black gave him. "She's not stunned… Get up, Harriet. Whatever ridiculous escape plan this is isn't working."

Her breathing quickened, making Severus suspicious. Slowly, he entered her mind. What was the point of this? His suspicious deepened when he was blocked. Harriet definitely wasn't capable of blocking him…

* * *

 _Meanwhile, the Great Snake was tired of waiting for Harriet. When that woman, Hermione, froze her, he seized the opportunity. Harriet tried to force herself conscious, causing him to cruelly hiss, "Crucio!"_

 _It was the worst pain she had ever felt, but somehow, he had her just as frozen as Hermione had her. Harriet was so stiff that she couldn't even scream._

 _"Why are you avoiding me, Harriet?" he asked coldly. "Have you given up on your father? You want him to die, don't you? Is that what, Harriet? You want him to die?"_

 _"No," she whimpered through the pain._

 _The Great Snake took a step towards her, looking down on her as if she was a disgusting pile of waste. "Then you have to listen to what I say, or I'm going to start slowly killing him. Peeling his flesh off layer by layer. Ripping limbs off. Starving him. He will suffer for so long because of_ _ **you**_ _."_

 _"Please," Harriet cried._

 _His ice cold hands wrapped themselves around her neck, and although he didn't squeeze, she tried in vain to gasp for air. The long finger with a sharp, ice shard-like nail pressed itself against her forehead. For a moment, Harriet couldn't see, but then her vision was taken over by the image of the man named Neville. "After you gain their trust, you are to bring him to me. But before that…" An image of another man appeared. He had a long white beard and twinkling blue eyes. "You will kill him. Make it look like he sickened and died. Do I make myself clear?"_

 _Harriet remained silent. The only people she had killed were trying to kill her, except that one man who started it all, the man who was trying to kill that pale haired woman. To kill someone who she had never met… Someone who didn't mean anyone harm…_

 _"The older man, Albus Dumbledore, is so skilled with magic that he would kill you before you even tried," the Great Snake said as he removed his finger and allowed her to see his hideous face again. "When you meet him, you must charm him, allow him to feed into his childish belief that all everyone needs is love. You must fool everyone, Harriet. In the meantime, I will teach you how to properly spy on them. How to listen in with magic, how to tear down wards…"_

 _The Great Snake studied her intently, trying to see if she was up to the task, even though she was lying pathetically only the floor. "If you betray me, Harriet. I won't hesitate to kill your useless father. I will see you on the Dream Plane in one week's time. You will update me on your progress of gaining their trust, and I will teach you the magic I require of you."_

When she came to, the first thing she saw was Severus, looking down on her worriedly. Without thinking, Harriet flung herself at him, crying hysterically and practically clawing at him as he tried to shove her away.

"Harriet!" he boomed. However he softened when she only cried harder. "This has to stop."

"You-you said you'd keep me safe," she whimpered. Harriet felt silly though. What could he do? She had put herself in this situation with the Great Snake. And it was a situation that he didn't know she was in.

Severus pulled her away, keeping her at arm's length. "You're safe here, Harriet. You don't need me."

"That's not true!"

With a sigh, Severus pulled her to her feet. "Let's get you to bed."

"I'll take her," Black snapped.

Severus glared at him. "Give her one moment's piece, Black."

Black advanced towards him, but Tonks put an arm in front of him. "I'll go with them," she said softly.

Since she was exhausted, Harriet gave in, wishing she didn't have to sleep because that meant she wouldn't have to be converse with the Great Snake. Once she was lying down, Tonks ran her hands through Harriet's hair, such a relaxing motion that she eventually fell into a deep sleep. Thankfully, she didn't dream.

* * *

"You're overstimulating her," Severus barked as soon as Harriet was asleep. "You throw one thing after another at her. It's been two fucking days, Black!"

"So what do you suppose I do?" As always, Black regarded him with disgust and didn't truly listen to what he was saying. "Let her be? Let her prance about the house and try to _mate_ with you?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Yes. Let her prance about the house. She's lived in a bloody forest all her life. Let her get used to living in a home. Let her get used to being safe, not shivering in the woods wondering if she'll be lucky enough to get a decent amount of food for the day."

But Black wouldn't accept that of course. "She thinks that-that bastard is her father! James—"

"Potter would want her to feel safe," Severus reiterated. "What do you think would be more important to him? Her mental wellbeing or knowing that he is her father? She is terrified! Absolutely terrified and you're concerned about her knowing her paternity."

"It's not just that," Black said weakly. "She… Remus and I should have raised her. Neville, Ron, and Hermione should be her friends. I… I'm her godfather, and she looks at me like…"

"Like she should look at Pettigrew," Severus said tiredly. "Black, she's spent seventeen years thinking—"

"I-I know." Black closed his eyes, pained at the thought of Harriet's childhood. "I-I want her to just accept it. Then, we can be a proper family, and everything will be alright."

Severus shook his head. "Stop being such a fool," he said coldly. "It will most likely take years."

He might as well have slapped Black in the face. The dog roughly pushed passed him. "She just needs to see…"

"You're an idiot," Severus called after him, knowing Black was going to plan yet again for Harriet's miraculous recovery. The fool.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Despite Black's stubbornness, he must have taken Severus's words to heart because there Harriet was, peering over his shoulder when he tried to seclude himself in the library. "What's that?"

"A book," Severus said tiredly. She had probably been asking such questions all day. Her hair caressed his cheek as she leaned forward to inspect the textbook he was reading. Now that it had been washed, it was curling slightly instead of being its usual matted mess.

Harriet frowned. She had no concept of what reading even was, so his words had no effect on her. "Do you want to come to the garden with me?"

"No," Severus said instantly. He was surprised she wasn't banned, given yesterday's events. "I'm reading."

Again, no effect. Why would it? Harriet's frown deepened as she tried to find something to do with him. "How's your arm?"

In excruciating pain as always. "Fine."

"Because I think if I make a paste out of—"

"Harriet." Severus hesitated. Lately, she consumed his every waking thought, but that was because of their situation. Nothing more. He was in hiding because of her, and he had nothing to do. "This has to stop."

She turned to fully face him, study him like he was the latest specimen at the local zoo. That was probably the way everyone looked at her. "Did you want me to kiss you?"

"It is inappropriate and—"

A very James Potter-like smile took over her face. "You didn't say no."

"No," he said seriously. "I didn't want you to."

Everything about her absolutely screamed Slytherin, but thank Merlin, she didn't try to kiss him again. Instead, she whispered triumphantly, "You're lying."

She left, most likely to go terrorize someone else.

The more Severus thought about it, the more he realized Harriet was more like himself than Lily. She was confused, torn between two worlds, and lonely. She didn't fit in and kept those who wanted to be close to her at arm's length. She was socially inadequate but intelligent and not interested in being friendly with anyone except the one person who protected her. She was him.

So he was protective of an image of his formal self. That was all. That was the only reason he was felt slightly disappointed that she left.

* * *

After a good half hour argument with Remus, Sirius gave in to let Harriet have free reign of the house. Tonks was becoming more and more worried about Harriet's obvious emotional disturbance, even though the girl only regarded Teddy with fascination.

Sirius was sure she was going to spend all her time stalking Snape. Remus insisted that Severus's protectiveness of her was out of loyalty to Lily and because he spent months trying to catch her during the Hunt, but Sirius knew better. The way they looked at each other… It was like they had some sort of strange connection, a connection that Sirius was desperate to break.

"What's that you're holding?" Sirius nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Harriet's voice. He was painting, a hobby he picked up when Harriet first went missing, and his depression had intensified to the worst it had ever been.

"A paintbrush," Sirius said slowly. Harriet was at the edge of the doorway, curious but trying to keep her distance at the same time. "Do you like to paint?"

At first, Harriet didn't answer him and studied his halfway done painting of the sunrise. She bit her lip, clearly wanting to get a better look, but her feelings towards him kept her rooted in place. Sirius was trying his best to stay quiet and calm, just like Remus said.

"We don't have such colorful berries at home," she said quietly. "Dad scolds me for wasting the berries."

Sirius conjured another canvas causing Harriet to jump in surprise. From what Severus described, Harriet only used magic for self-defense. "I have plenty of paint, if you would like to join me."

Anger flashed in her eyes, and Sirius expected her to run off. She seemed to be debating to herself, and when she took a step towards him, she seemed pained. Finally, after her agonizingly slow walk, Harriet was at the canvas he conjured for her.

"What would you like to paint?" Sirius asked awkwardly as he handed her a spare brush.

"Lilies," she said venomously, throwing back in his face what she thought he did to Lily.

"Alright," Sirius said thickly as he handed her the brush.

She mostly ate with her hands. Tonks said she couldn't tie her shoes and struggled with buttons. That she gave up on them and nearly walked out of her room with her shirt open this morning. After a moment of watching him use his paintbrush, Harriet tried and couldn't even paint a straight line as she tried to make the stem of a lily. She made a frustrated noise as her hand shook slightly and the line slanted, and Sirius grabbed her hand before she could throw the paintbrush on the floor.

"It's alright," he said as he arranged her fingers to hold the paintbrush properly. Then, he guided her hand to make a green straight line. "It just takes practice."

Harriet glared at him and yanked her hand out of his. "Dad says painting is a waste."

"But you disagree," Sirius said before she stomped off. "It's okay to enjoy something he disapproves of. Besides, this paint isn't made of berries anyway."

"Dad says it's a waste," Harriet pressed.

"What do you say, Harriet?" Sirius asked. His words made her turn pink. "That's all that matters to me."

If looks could kill… Harriet left and didn't look over her shoulder when she answered, "It's a waste."

Her shoulders stiffened, just like James's did when anger made him lie. Sirius almost laughed when she stomped away. Maybe she did just need time. Remus could be right. For once.

* * *

Harriet loved to paint and until today, never knew that other people did too. Dad said that she couldn't waste food like that, that her pictures would quickly fade away anyway. Of course the only person in this wretched place who liked to paint was Sirius Black.

The only reason she had joined him was because the Great Snake told her to gain their trust. In fact, she couldn't force herself to stay and be civil, even though she should have, even though those paints were absolutely gorgeous…

Black was a liar anyway. Those paints were probably made of berries, a ridiculous amount of them. Humans were gluttonous creatures who took everything so there wasn't enough for animals and not even other humans. Harriet didn't want to become like _them,_ and if she enjoyed painting with Black, she just might.

Harriet wasn't very hungry, but when someone called her for dinner, she forced herself to go. If not, the woman named Molly would force her to. She smirked when Severus's name was called too. He didn't come out of his room.

"There you are deary," Molly fretted. "I was worried you were lost."

Harriet glared at the woman. She had the entire dwelling memorized because she tried to escape every moment she was alone. So far, she was unsuccessful. "I was trying to find Severus."

She said that because she knew it would irritate them, even though she truly would feel more comfortable if he was at dinner. She managed to make Black scowl, and Lupin looked uncomfortable.

"Yes. I would like to see Severus as well." It was a voice Harriet didn't recognize, and she turned around to see a man with a long white beard. The man that the Great Snake wanted her to kill.

 **Thank you for the review Guest!**

 **Team Severus or Team Neville? ;)**


	6. Gaining their Trust

Chapter 6 Gaining their Trust

"There you are, Severus." Dumbledore. Severus was surprised he hadn't heard his disgustingly cheerful voice sooner. "Harriet and I were looking for you."

He looked over the book he was reading to see Harriet behind Albus. Given her obsession with him, he expected her to look annoyingly ecstatic since he spent most of his time locked in his room, hiding from her. Instead, she seemed shaken up for some reason.

"I'm sure she was," he drawled. "For further record, Albus, I would rather have just one visitor."

Those damn twinkling eyes. "Oh? Would you like me to give you two some privacy?" He chuckled at the fear inducing look Severus gave him. "Will you be joining us for dinner, Severus? We're to have a meeting afterwards that you must attend."

"I'm skipping dinner," Severus said through clenched teeth. Lately, he had been eating at night when Harriet went to bed and bringing something up with him to have for breakfast. Then, he either secluded himself in the library or his room. He hated everyone in this house except Harriet, who wanted to get _too_ close to him.

"I am too!" Harriet piped in, now that she knew where he was. Great. "I made a paste to help with your arm and—"

"On second thought, I think I will go down." Severus grimaced when Harriet decided to join them. At least she went to bed early and wouldn't try to stay at the meeting.

* * *

Dumbledore was the man that the Great Snake wanted her to make so sick that he died. Harriet sat next to Severus at dinner, trying not to look at the cheerful man. Albus Dumbledore was not someone who deserved to be killed.

"There's a seat next to Neville." Black was even chewing angrily.

Harriet looked at him blankly. "Yes. There is."

"You should sit there," he said grumpily.

Harriet simply said, "No." Severus rubbed at his eyes, and she liked to think he was trying not to smile.

Severus could help her with the Great Snake. Somehow, Harriet knew that, but she also knew that would mean giving up on and abandoning Dad. Still, there was a safety about Severus that Harriet wanted to be near despite her mission.

"Why are you so pale?" he said quietly as Dumbledore started chatting about his favorite sweet foods.

Harriet glanced at him and then looked back at her food. She decided that she could only give him a half truth. "I don't like it here."

He softened. In the background, Molly was bringing out a sickeningly sweet food called cake. Dumbledore started cheering. "You will. Give it time."

"I don't want to. My dad…" Harriet pushed around her food. If she didn't need to rescue Dad, she knew she would very much like it here. That's what made everything she had to do so devastating.

"Harriet, everyone here loves you," he said quietly. "One day, you'll see how real that love is compared to the love you think you've experienced in the past."

"Does that include you, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, sounding a bit teasing. The words were only meant for Harriet to hear, causing Severus to go rigid beside her and not answer.

No one else seemed to have heard and were looking at Dumbledore in confusion. If Harriet didn't feel so evil and heartless, she would have boasted about such a victory. What was she going to do?

* * *

 _The Great Snake was trying to teach her how to break down magical barriers called wards. All Harriet was getting was a headache._

 _"You have to be able to do this to listen to their nightly meetings," he hissed. "They keep evacuating mudbloods' parents before we can exterminate them!"_

 _"What?" Harriet said tiredly. She had no idea what a mudblood was._

 _"Just shut up and keep working at it," the Great Snake snapped. He had a magical see-through barrier between them, which he said was weaker than most wards. She was supposed to focus her magic on it and break it._

 _Harriet closed her eyes and held her hands up, trying to act as though she was trying to knock down a tree or heavy boulder. Relief flooded through her when she felt the tiniest of cracks. She was rewarded with such a bad headache that she woke up and left the Dream Plane. Without the Great Snake's permission._

Harriet woke up from the dream soaked with what she thought was sweat. The sun was starting to rise, so when she looked down at her nightdress, she saw that it wasn't sweat, and she was having the worst nosebleed of her life.

With a thud, Harriet fell off her bed as she tried to fumble around to find the light. She just needed to lean forward. Clean herself up a bit… If only she could find the light...

* * *

Severus was trying to force himself to sleep through the pain of his Dark Mark when he heard a heavy crash from Harriet's room. If she was trying to escape again…

With a disgruntled sigh, he forced himself out of bed and opened her door… only to find her covered in blood and trying to stop a nosebleed with her blanket. "Harriet!"

She was afraid, obviously, but she also seemed to know what she was doing as she pinched her nose and leaned forward. Still, he had no plans of just leaving her in such a state, and led her downstairs to call Poppy. She should have had a medical evaluation as soon as she had arrived…

* * *

"It happens when I use too much magic," Harriet said thickly as a woman she never met before waved her stick over her head. She flinched when Sirius Black came running down the stairs to the room the woman named Poppy was examining her in.

"Oh my God!" he cried as Harriet went absolutely still. Dad said that Black didn't care about anyone but himself. That clearly wasn't true. How long had Dad been bewitched?

Severus towered over her. "And just what were you using magic for?"

"Leave her alone!" Black spat before turning to Poppy. "Is she going to be alright? What happened?"

Poppy nodded grimly. "Her brain isn't used to using magic often. Whatever she was doing was far beyond her capabilities. She pushed herself too far. You've gone years at a time without using magic, haven't you?"

"What were you doing, Harriet?" Severus demanded.

Harriet turned away as Poppy started to clean her up. She only really started using magic when she was thirteen, and she mostly just made tornados or knocked things over. Sometimes she used magic to make things like bowls or traps, but Dad usually did that. Dad also did most of the work when showing her how to turn into a mouse, and the process was the most painful experience that she had ever felt. That's when the nosebleeds started. What if she wasn't able to do what the Great Snake asked? What would happen to Dad then?

"I need to help my dad," she muttered. She had always thought she was very good at magic. She could do everything Dad could do, but clearly it was only everything Dad _showed_ her he could do. That time he made everything spin and took her somewhere else…

There was so much she didn't know about. Here people conjured objects out of thin air. Tonks could change her appearance at will. Black could turn into a much larger animal than she could with ease, and that woman named Hermione was able to freeze her. She recalled Severus flying that one night in the woods. Not to mention what the Great Snake could do.

Severus sat next to her and broke her from her thoughts about magic. "Harriet, I will tell you this every time you mention him. He is safe. He chose to follow the Dark Lord, and deep down, I know you know this to be true."

Harriet glared at him before turning away again. Dad was bewitched. He had to be. Because if he wasn't, that would mean he gave her to the Great Snake on purpose, that he was willing to let her die. Her dad wouldn't do that.

"Now," Severus said quietly. "What were you doing?"

"Trying to get out of here," she half-lied. The Great Snake was trying to show her how to break wards, which she would use to spy for him and would eventually lead her to escape.

Severus studied her intently. "You are lying."

"Leave her alone," Black growled. "She's sick!"

Severus opened his mouth to challenge him, but Poppy silenced him with a look. "I'd like to examine her more thoroughly, Severus. Clearly, Harriet is unable to accomplish what she is trying to achieve. It can wait."

The Great Snake would teacher her. He said he would, but Harriet was starting to get frustrated with herself. She could be blowing her only opportunity to save Dad because she wasn't strong enough. She gritted her teeth as Poppy started muttering to herself and pointing at her with that stick. "What's that for anyway?"

Poppy blinked in surprise. "My wand?"

Wand. It sounded familiar, and Harriet vaguely remembered Severus calling his stick that. Still sore with herself, Harriet shrugged. "Yes."

"We use it for magic," Poppy explained as she glanced worriedly at Black. "Well… Harriet, you seem rather healthy, as healthy as you can being so underweight. I'd like you to put on at least twenty pounds. Hopefully you could grow a bit taller… Do you menstruate, Harriet?"

Black turned pink, and even Severus suddenly wasn't looking at her. Harriet almost smiled. Dad was the same way. "On my fourteenth spring."

"Every month?" Poppy asked worriedly. Harriet shook her head. "How often?"

What a strange woman… "In the spring. Sometimes but not for two years."

"Why weren't you brewing her nutrient potions?" Poppy half-yelled at Severus. "The poor girl is so thin, she's infertile."

Infertile. That's what Dad called the unicorns when she asked why they don't have babies in the spring like all the other animals. Harriet glanced at Severus, who still wasn't looking at her.

"She's only been here a few weeks," Severus tried, but this Poppy woman wasn't having it.

"And she hasn't been provided with medical care and from what Albus has told me, an education!" Poppy snapped. "She needs to be part of our world if you ever expect her to want to stay and stop chasing after that man!"

"My dad," Harriet seethed. They always talked about her like she wasn't there if a conversation even got slightly complicated.

"He's not—" Black tried, but Severus silenced him with a glare.

Poppy tutted and shook her head before turning to Severus. "Brew her the strongest nutrient potion you can. I want her gaining at least a pound a week. And have Remus or Miss Granger start teaching her how to read and write."

Severus read, but Harriet didn't quite understand what that meant. She just knew that she couldn't. What she could do, however, was make potions. "Can I make that potion with you?"

"No," Severus said firmly, this time not reacting to Poppy's sternness.

But Harriet barreled on. Severus avoided her every chance he got. "I'm good. It's my favorite thing to do with my dad."

"Oh." Severus raised his eyebrows, pretending to consider. "Well in that case… absolutely not."

Harriet could be just as stubborn. "Then I'm not drinking it."

"Harry!" Black tried to admonish.

"It's your health, not mine," Severus said almost lazily. He narrowed his eyes as Harriet refused to budge on the matter. Poppy was staring at him too, clearly refusing to leave until the matter was settled. Finally, he said rudely, "We'll start tomorrow. And do try to eat more, Harriet. You're becoming an inconvenience."

"She is not!" Black yelled, but Harriet didn't care. She had gotten what she wanted.

* * *

"Were you worried about me this morning?" Merlin she was insufferable. Severus could only imagine what it would be like if she had gone to Hogwarts. A Slytherin James Potter with her mother's beauty and intelligence. He probably would have resigned within a week.

"No," Severus said sarcastically. "I was worried you'd stain the floors with your blood."

Harriet frowned. Pettigrew must not have used sarcasm with her often because sometimes, she didn't quite get it. "Dad says stains are unsightly, but there's nothing we can do about them."

"Fascinating," he drawled. This time, Harriet got it and grinned. With an eye roll, Severus laid out the ingredients. Harriet leaned forward to inspect them, a little too close for his liking. She smelled like soap instead of the mixture of dirt and sweat that he was used to from their encounters in the forest.

"What's that?"

"A potato," Severus said flatly. The nutrient potion she required was really just a drink filled with vitamins, fattening foods, fruits and vegetables, and giant's milk, which Severus refused to find out how it was acquired. From what he heard, this potion was absolutely disgusting, and Severus almost smiled picturing the look on Harriet's face when she drank it and realized she would have to drink it every day for a few weeks. "Cut everything up into thin slices and then we'll let it simmer."

"That's it?" She sounded disappointed.

"Yes." Severus was almost reluctant to hand her a knife.

Her fine motor skills were obviously lacking. Harriet struggled to mimic him as she tried to cut up spinach leaves, and Severus snatched her other hand away before she could cut her finger. Sensing her inadequacy, she started ripping up the leaves by hand, which is probably what she did with Pettigrew. Her face was flushed with embarrassment, but she kept working.

"Do you want me to show you how to use it?" Severus said as her scowl deepened with every rip.

"Please," she said through clenched teeth. As James Potter's child, discovering her faults must not be easy for her. She excelled at her simple life in the forest, but here, everywhere she turned there was something she couldn't do or didn't understand.

With a sigh, Severus placed her knife in her rough little hand. "Keep your other hand at a safe distance or you'll cut yourself. I think you've bled enough today."

"You _were_ worried about me." The thought pleased the little demon as they kept working. Her words made him pull away and leave her on her own, causing her to nick herself here and there. The spinach leaves and the carrots that she cut up looked wretched, but luckily, Severus was fast enough that they were the only items that she botched. As she struggled with the carrots, he tried his best to fix what she had already cut.

"Yes," he admitted, "but our relationship is not sexual, Harriet."

"Yet," she said with James Potter confidence. Severus took a deep breath. "Do you care for me?"

"In a way." His words made her laugh to herself. "You're reading too deeply into this, Harriet. Just because I am the most familiar to you—"

"You didn't kill that bear." Harriet narrowed her eyes as she struggled with the last bit of carrot. "That's how I knew I loved you."

"It was part of my plan to earn your trust or gain the opportunity to capture you," Severus said rudely. "Nothing more."

Harriet studied him, trying to see if he was lying or not. "I still would have come after you if you had killed it. You know that."

Severus started dumping the ingredients in his cauldron so roughly that he was comparable to Longbottom's lack of grace. "Now that you are safe, I want nothing to do with you. If you want to please me, Harriet, stop talking all together."

His words didn't bother her in the slightest. "You get angry when you lie."

He couldn't wait to make her drink this after it cooled.

* * *

"How was your making nutrient potion?" Remus asked. A day had passed since the incident, and he wanted to at least teach Harriet how to write her name.

Harriet shrugged and smiled a little evilly. Now that she was getting used to living here, her personality was coming out, and she was more and more like James every day. If only she was willing to accept… "Severus got mad when I told him I loved him."

Definitely James's daughter. Remus tried not to react. This was the first time they were going to spend quality time together instead of her listlessly exploring the house. "Oh really? Well, how was the potion?"

"Terrible." She grinned in a way that reminded Remus so much of James that it startled him. "But I could tell Severus knew and was waiting for my reaction, so I pretended I liked it."

Remus smiled to himself and took out a role of parchment. In dotted lines, he wrote Harriet's name several times for her to trace. Perhaps it would get her interested in reading and writing. "This is Harriet in writing. Have you ever heard of writing before, Harry? Letters are symbols that create words. "

"It's like painting," she muttered, although he could see she was not really getting it.

Sirius loved to paint but was afraid to ask Harriet after their previous run in. Harriet was willing to spend time with everyone but Sirius, and Remus knew it broke his best friend's heart. He'd try to push it for Padfoot later, he thought as he handed her a fat pencil that was usually reserved for preschoolers. "In a way. I'll show you how to hold this, and we'll trace your name. Eventually, you'll be able to write it without the dots."

He had to adjust her hand several times, and he realized that within a few minutes she was frustrated. Focusing clearly wasn't her strong suit. The muffled sound of someone talking on the other side of the house or even a nearby toilet flushing made her abandon her work to look in the direction of the noise.

"Do you need to take a break, Harry?" Remus asked after ten minutes. She wasn't used to focusing on such tasks, he reasoned. She needed time to get used to it.

Harriet was looking in the direction of where Teddy could be heard giggling while Dora gave him a bath. She was fascinated by his son, but Dora still wanted her to keep her distance. "I want to go to the garden."

That was what she called the greenhouse. Remus supposed they could shoot for fifteen minutes tomorrow and work more and more each day. "You know, Sirius likes to paint in the garden. Perhaps the two of you could. Together."

Harriet pursed her lips at the mention of Sirius. "He—"

"He did not." Remus didn't want to push things with Harriet, but her having this belief was torture to his best friend. Anger flashed in her eyes, and he didn't entirely blame her. She was raised to believe these cruel lies. "He would have died for your mother and father. For Peter too."

"My dad is Peter," she spat. Remus didn't say anything. "Black told the Great Snake—"

"Then why hasn't he given you to Voldemort by now?" Remus challenged. "Or the Great Snake or whatever you call him. He had the perfect opportunity when you were hurt and weak yesterday. In fact, he's had plenty of opportunities."

"Because." Her face turned red as she tried not to get upset. When she ran upstairs to seclude herself in her room, Remus didn't try to stop her. She needed to work this out on her own.

* * *

 _"I have to ask you something." Harriet was never one to draw things out on the Dream Plane, but after her conversation with Lupin, she couldn't stop thinking about Sirius Black, the points Lupin made, and Black's concern for him when she had that terrible nosebleed._

 _The Great Snake studied her for a moment, and in those few seconds, he knew what she wanted to ask without her having to say anything. "You want to know if Black was one of my followers?"_

 _"Yes," she said bravely. She spent a good amount of time thinking about why the Great Snake could be bothered to tell her. The monster did nothing unless there was a personal gain behind it. "If he's one of your followers, he can help me kill Dumbledore and take the other one to you. If you lie to me, I'll be telling your plans to one of your enemies."_

 _He barred his teeth at her. "Clever girl._ _ **Crucio**_ _."_

 _Unlike her previous experience with this incantation on the Dream Plane, the Great Snake let her scream. She tried to writhe in agony, but as usual, she couldn't take more than a few steps. He didn't stop until she started screaming, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"_

 _"Sirius Black is not one of my followers, never was, never will be," he hissed. "Do not try to manipulate me, Harriet. I know every thought of yours before your underdeveloped little brain can even think it."_

 _"Then why'd you tell me?!" she sobbed._

 _He let her cry to herself until the pain went away, relishing in the fact that she was humiliating herself. "Your_ _ **father**_ _is a liar," he said coldly. "But I know you'll foolishly still love him and try to save him no matter what you figure out he has done to you. I am not going to risk you being stupid and confiding in Black. Know that if you betray me, Harry, I will slowly kill Peter and make you watch every moment of it on the Dream Plane."_

 _Harriet tried to process what he had told her. Dad lied to her about Sirius Black, making her wonder what else he had lied about. And why would he make up such a thing about Black? The Great Snake didn't give her time to think about it._

 _"Now, are you ready to stop wasting my time and listen to what your new objective is?" he asked coldly. Harriet forced herself to nod. "Since I am obviously going to teach you magic very_ _ **slowly**_ _." He paused a moment to look down on Harriet. "I'm going to focus on you getting close to Longbottom. My followers are going to set a Sleeping Spider on one of his friends the next time they set out on one of their rescue missions. You are to save that friend."_

 _"A Sleeping Spider could kill them," Harriet said breathlessly._

 _"Then you'd better not fail this time," he snapped. "Now, we'll begin our lessons."_

* * *

"You were screaming last night," Severus said as she emerged from her room the next morning. He seemed to be waiting for her outside her door. "I couldn't wake you up."

Harriet felt too guilty to look at him. "I had a nightmare."

Out of the corner of her eye, Severus softened slightly. "If something is bothering you, you can tell me."

Harriet turned to him and raised her eyebrows. "Oh really?"

Severus took a deep breath. "There are some boundaries you can't cross, Harriet. Now, what happened last night? The entire house was in an uproar, but within in an hour, you were sleeping like a baby. Poppy claims you had a night terror, but I don't believe it."

"You can't pick and choose when to be bothered with me." Harriet couldn't help being cross. She was exhausted, guilty, and as hopelessly confused.

"I can, and I will, out of respect for your mother," Severus said just as meanly.

Harriet scowled at him for a minute until his words sunk in. It wasn't that he didn't have feelings for her. His complicated relationship with her mother—

"I can see the cogs turning in your devious little mind," Severus growled. "Stop it."

Harriet smiled sweetly. "I'm going down for breakfast."

* * *

"What are you doing?" Harriet watched Black flip some flat object on the stove. Molly said to never touch the stove, but there he was.

Guilt festered in Harriet when he looked utterly shocked that she was speaking to him so pleasantly. "Making pancakes. I always cook when Ron's out. Molly worries too much to."

It smelled so good that Harriet felt her mouth water. He watched her out of the corner of his eye and held up a plate full of them. "Try one. At breakfast, there'll be syrup, but you always make a face when things are really sweet."

"Because it makes my mouth feel weird." Hesitantly, Harriet ripped off a piece and sniffed it. Since Black started laughing at her, she shoved it in her mouth.

"Good?" he asked as if he was afraid she'd be mad at him if she didn't like it. Harriet nodded slowly, and he broke out into a smile that made her shift uncomfortably. She was so cruel to him before, and now, he was being so nice to her. Was it a trap? Was the Great Snake lying? Or was she just that distrustful and mean?

"I…" Harriet wanted to say that she would rather paint with him than eat sweet foods. She had been itching to do paint ever since she did with him the first time, but because of what she believed him to be, she pushed the desire into the back of her mind.

"OH MY GOD! RON!" Molly screamed from another room. Her voice was agonizing, and Harriet knew that it was because of her. She had to save Ron from the Sleeping Spider, and if it wasn't for her, this wouldn't be happening.

Black turned the flame off the stove and ran into the other room. Harriet's heart sunk as she followed.

* * *

"I-I don't know what happened," Neville panicked as Harriet frantically looked for a Sleeping Spider. Even the woman named Hermione, who Harriet assumed had nerves of as hard as stone, seemed stricken. "He wasn't hit with a curse or hex or anything."

Ron was lying on the couch, motionless and getting paler by the second. A Sleeping Spider would paralyze him and although he seemed to be sleeping, Harriet knew he was in agony. Dad saved her from one when she was eleven, and she saved him when she was sixteen. Little devils, Dad called them, but he also said they were rare.

Finally, Harriet saw a tiny slit in the clothing covering his shoulder. As she approached him, Ron's mother, Molly, threw herself in front of her son. "Stay away from him!"

So the Great Snake was right. No matter how nice they seemed to be, they still didn't trust her. Harriet couldn't blame them, but she had to act fast. "It's a Sleeping Spider," she tried. "I just have to take it out and feed him its blood…"

Because that sounded pleasant and like it would totally work… Molly didn't budge, but Hermione narrowed her eyes, and Harriet shrunk under her gaze. She was very smart. Harriet could tell. "Listen to her, Mrs. Weasley. Look at how dark the skin under his eyes is getting."

Molly's eyes filled with tears as she started to move out of Harriet's way. Before she did completely, however, she said thickly, "If you hurt one hair on his head…"

But Ron was getting weaker by the second, and Harriet only had time to give her one guilty look before moving his cloths to reveal his shoulder. She saw a lump that was slowly making its way to his heart. If it made it to the heart, Dad said, it would suck all the blood out of the body.

With a deep breath, Harriet pushed her wrist into his skin to stop the spider from moving. With her other hand, she pushed upwards with all her strength until it was at the small cut that it entered his body with. When Harriet took it out, she pinched the Sleeping Spider as hard as she could, but it wouldn't die. Ron was starting to come to, and Harriet knew that he would start screaming in pain if she didn't act fast.

She closed her eyes before she bit its head off and opened Ron's mouth to get as much of the blood in as she could. She had to force his mouth shut with both her hands as he struggled, but eventually, he swallowed.

Almost as soon as she let go, Ron started gasping when he opened his eyes. "Wha' 'appened?" he said through his exhaustion.

Everyone flocked to him, and Harriet was happy to back away from the scene. The Great Snake wouldn't have sought out a Sleeping Spider if it wasn't for her. Dad said they only lived in their forest, and it was incredibly rare to find one.

"He's my best friend," Neville said as everyone asked Ron how he was feeling. Harriet looked at the ground, so she wouldn't have to see that he was near tears. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Neville pulled her into a tight hug.

She didn't know how long she could keep doing this.

* * *

 _"Neville had an interesting reaction to your act of heroism," the Great Snake announced as Harriet felt herself being pulled into the Dream Plane. She didn't see anything when she saw him, a stark, frightening contrast to the intimidating darkness. "It seems you are finally making progress."_

 _"Yes," she said quietly. After the morning's events, she felt like she belonged in that house, like she was part of their family._

 _"But you're not," the Great Snake said quietly, responding to her uneasy feelings. "Your only family is with_ _ **me**_ _."_

 _Harriet forced herself to look him in the eye. "I know that."_

 _The Great Snake didn't seem to believe her entirely, but he also seemed to not care. "The boy is more important to me than Dumbledore's life. You are clearly too stupid to pull both off. You're practically a Squib."_

 _Harriet didn't dare ask what he meant. The sooner she could leave the Dream Plane, the better. Luckily, the Great Snake was never one for what Dad called mindless chatter._

 _"Neville admires you greatly." The Great Snake's lips curled into an unnatural, frightening smile. "It will be rather easy for you to bring him to me. Once you make him fall in love with you."_

 _Harriet stared. You couldn't make someone fall in love with you. Neville hugged her because he was worried about his friend, and she had saved him. If it was anyone else, he would have hugged them too._

 _"Perhaps," the Great Snake conceded. She would never get used to him listening to her thoughts. "But he looks at you with almost the same intensity that our dear Severus does." He cackled at her startled look. "Be kind to him, spend time with him, and act like you return his feelings, Harriet. Then, he will readily agree to follow you. And you will lead him right to me."_

 _Uneasiness tightened in Harriet's chest. She didn't want to do this, but she had to, for Dad. She would do anything to save her Dad, and the Great Snake knew it. That's why he didn't care how she felt about everyone at the house. He knew that Dad was the most important person in her life and always would be. "Yes."_

 **Thank you so much for all the reviews Guest 1, Ashabel, Guest 2, Guest 3, Guest 4, and Dalar Rose!**

 **Guest 2: I've thought about it! Maybe when I'm done this. He wouldn't be a professor though. I've always pictured them meeting at some kind of Potions Masters convention or working together.**

 **A/N: Severus is gonna be jealous! ;)**


	7. Suspicious

Chapter 7 Suspicious

The day after Ronald Weasley's near death experience, Ms. Granger was knocking on Severus's door. Wonderful. It wouldn't be surprising if the boy had nerve damage, but Ms. Granger would want to learn how to make the necessary potions herself, asking questions, and even question his performance as a brewer.  
"What?" Severus asked as soon as he opened the door and saw who was on the other side of it.

Ms. Granger raised one eyebrow. "Expecting someone else?"

"Excuse me?"

"You just looked disappointed." Granger pushed passed him and waltzed into his room without permission. "Speaking of Harriet—"

"We weren't talking about her," Severus snapped.

Granger ignored him. "Don't you find it oddly convenient that Ron was attacked by a spider that's only found in the Forbidden Forest? He was attacked by something only Harriet would instantly recognize?"

"She has not left the property," Severus defended, despite the fact that he was starting to grow as suspicious as Granger was. But even if Harriet somehow managed to pull this off, what was she to gain from it? She was the hero for the day, but that was about it.

"I know." But Granger wasn't the brightest witch of her age for nothing. "That doesn't mean she's entirely innocent. I think you should talk to her, professor. You're the one she trusts the most."

"Oh joy."

Granger nodded grimly and finally left Severus alone, wondering how he was going to talk to Harriet. When asked, he was sure he would get a vague _I need to help my dad,_ and he hadn't exactly been kind to her lately. To himself, he would admit that he was attracted to her, but he was thirty eight. She was eighteen. He had been in love with her mother and played a part in her parents' death because of it. For those reasons, it would be wrong for him to act on such feelings of lust when he cared so deeply for her. Therefore, he wanted to keep his distance and do his best to push her away. Unfortunately, Harriet placed herself in far too much trouble for that to be a reality.

* * *

"I made something for you," Harriet announced that when she strolled into his room to make her nutrient potion a few hours later. Black tried to trot in as a dog, but Harriet shut the door in his face. Given that he never wanted to deal with Black, Severus locked the door with his wand, causing her to grin and Black to bark a few times before being admonished by Lupin.

He had to be kind to her, in order to get answers. However, he also couldn't be too out of character and sneered at her rather proud expression. "What?"

As usual, Harriet was unaffected by his rudeness and took out a jar along with a rather haphazard looking paint brush. "My dad made these for me, but I made the paste."

Severus didn't say anything as she pushed up his sleeve, careful not to touch is Dark Mark with her hands. With the brush, she painted the reddish looking paste along the mark, and the pain almost immediately went away.

"I made it with ingredients I had in my furs," she boasted, swelling up with James Potter worthy pride, and Severus was too in awe that his arm felt normal for the first time in a month to be annoyed by it. "The flobberworm mucus makes it stick. The acromantula venom helps it sink in, but you can only add a little of that. Dad used to say it would only work for him, but I think he got mixed up sometimes."

"How?" Severus dared to ask. She never had anything bad to say about her father.

Harriet frowned at him pouncing on her last sentence and not caring about how she made the paste. "Because he got that Mark to spy on the Great Snake and figure out how to stop him when I was a baby. I think that's when he became bewitched, and he tried to fight it for so long—"

"Are you in contact with him?" Severus demanded to know before he could stop himself. "Is he communicating with you in any way?"

Harriet shook her head slowly, not looking at him. For a moment, he thought that she was lying until she perked up. "Do you know how I can? If he hasn't talked to me, surely you can help me find a way to—"

"No," Severus said firmly, causing her to pout slightly. Something else was going on. He just didn't know what and would have to subtly pry it out of her so she wouldn't notice. "Are you ready to get to work?"

Harriet sighed and nodded as she walked to the small table in his room that they brewed her nutrient potion with. "Can I have a knife for when I make your paste again?"

"Why would you need a…?" Severus looked down at her sleeve, which was tinged red. That was why Pettigrew had told her that paste would only work with him. Because Harriet thought they were related it. "Harriet!"

Like it was nothing, she blinked in surprise when he pushed her sleeve up to see that she had bitten herself so hard that she bled enough to make the paste red. She looked like she had been attacked by an animal. "What?"

"You could get an infection! What's wrong with you?" he barked as she watched him start shifting through his private stores for a disinfectant.

"I have to use my blood for the paste," she said, sounding annoyed. "It was Dad's idea—"

"Oh I'm sure it was," Severus shouted as he found a paste and forced open a jar. "Never do this again!"

Harriet winched as he hastily put the disinfectant on her bite marks. "But if it makes you feel better…"

"I don't want it if you're hurting yourself make it!" Severus swore as she stared at him, not understanding in the slightest. "Harriet, I don't want you hurting yourself because of something I chose to have on my arm." He pushed up both her sleeves to see them covered in old, scarred bite marks. "Jesus…"

"But if it makes you feel better," Harriet pressed. "I did it all the time for my dad."

"And you never got sick?" Severus soured further at her silence. Of course she had gotten sick. "You were living in an environment where an infection could kill you. And Pettigrew, your _father_ , was willing to risk that so he wouldn't have to be in pain? Pain that he could live with, I might add."

Finally, Harriet understood what he was saying and turned away from him. "My dad's bewitched. And…" Her nostrils flared and for the first time in a while, she was reminding him of Lily. His old best friend's temper was rearing its ugly head. "And I was trying to help you!"

"I don't want that kind of help," Severus spat. "And Pettigrew is not bewitched. He did not get mixed up, and no father would require this of you! Your father's eyes were hazel. Your father's nose was long. You have your father's lips. His rat's nest of hair. His speed. His ego. And clearly his stubbornness!"

"My mother's eyes—"

"Were green!"

Harriet's face fell at his words. She was only annoyed by his little speech until he yelled at her that Lily's eyes were green. "I-I have to go…"

"Harriet…" Severus didn't push any farther as she forced herself to walk out. He was the one who was constantly preaching that she needed time and look at what he had just done. The thought of her harming herself for Pettigrew, the man who handed her and her parents to the Dark Lord on a silver platter threw him into a rage. But that's what Pettigrew had always done, hadn't he?

The girl was his only companion when he had to hide himself from society. He thought his master was dead, but he kept a little insurance policy just in case. Pettigrew stunted Harriet's growth socially, educationally, and even developmentally, given her abysmal fine motor skills, by isolating her. The fact that he asked her to physically harm herself pushed Severus over the edge, and he took it out on her. He took it out on her when she was doing him a favor, when she was doing something for him she considered completely normal.

So much for finding out about the spider…

* * *

The Great Snake told her that her mother had green eyes. In that image that Black showed her, the woman he claimed to be her mother had green eyes. And now Severus, who she trusted almost as much as she trusted her dad, said her mother had green eyes. But Dad said that her mother had hazel eyes like her.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Black asked. She had agreed to paint with him today, but she was just staring at the white rectangle.

"What color were Mummy's eyes?" Harriet asked before she could stop herself.

"Green," Black said automatically. He and Severus hated each other and wouldn't work together on something as minor as Mummy's eyes. "Why?"

Black said she could paint with her fingers, so she dipped her index finger in the blue paint. Dad's eyes were blue. Not hazel. "Was her face like mine?"

"A little bit." Black was frowning. "Like the shape of your head. Your ears. From a distance though, you two could be twins. But you look a lot like your dad."

Harriet gritted her teeth. Dad said they looked exactly alike, that if Mummy were alive, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference. He said she looked nothing like him. Her dad. "I need to go lie down."

Severus was reminded of the fact that Harriet was eighteen when she sat next to Longbottom instead of him at dinner that evening. He had hoped to talk to her, but she seemed rather interested in "The Chosen One." Severus almost got up and left until Molly put a plate in front of him and glared, daring him to abandon the meal she undoubtedly took hours to make. With an eye roll, he picked up his plate and started to head upstairs.

"Do you know all the plants it the garden?" she asked before he had turned to leave.

Longbottom turned pink. "Y-yes. Would you like me to show you?"

Harriet wouldn't even look at Severus.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Harriet sat next to Neville again. Severus wasn't present anyway, and she had to keep the Great Snakes instructions in mind. He visited her often to still teach her about wards, so she nursed a headache as she picked at her plate full of eggs, fried tomatoes, and toast. She still refused to eat the meat here, even though she didn't think it was human. The thought of such nice people, people who wrongly trusted her, eating other people made Harriet feel like her thoughts were animal-like.

"My baby's home!" Molly squealed from another room. Harriet frowned at Ron, who had perked up. Did he have a sibling?

"Mum!" a feminine voice halfheartedly whined from the next room. Harriet stared as Molly led her into the kitchen.

She had short red hair that was straight. Her entrance caused several excited yells from around the table, but Harriet didn't join in, feeling foolish. The woman zeroed in on her because of how much her silence and tenseness stood out among all the happy, excited people.

"Who the hell are you?" she wondered gruffly.

"Harriet…" She blushed when Neville laughed beside her.

"Harriet who? Harriet Potter?" Her laugh was just as rough as the rest of her, and she didn't notice that those around her were starting to quiet. "Sirius finally managed to track her down? You gonna find Elvis next, Padfoot?"

Potter. That was the last name that Black said her "real" father had. After her conversation with Severus, fear and doubt swirled within Harriet from the girl's words. She didn't even know who Harriet was and referred to her as a Potter.

"My last name is Pettigrew!" Harriet growled so nastily that the woman jumped.

"Is it?" she said quietly. She glanced at Black, who shook his head sadly. "My name's Ginny. Ginny Weasley. And it seems I missed a lot since I last visited."

No one spoke. Everyone around Harriet looked sad as Ginny studied her. Finally, Ron, her brother, spoke up. "That's what you get for not coming home for a year."

The tension lessened, and this time Harriet jumped when Ginny smacked Ron on the back of the head. He howled in pain, but Harriet had the feeling that he was being overdramatic, playful even, like when she was five, and Dad made himself fall to the ground when she tried to push him in the snow.

"Whatever." Ginny laughed as she sat down and piled her plate high with eggs and meat called bacon. "I may not come home, but I took down the Lestrange brothers, the Carrows, and I've got a lead on finding Greyback. I'm getting things done."

"You put yourself in too much danger," Molly fretted. "You should at least take someone with you!"

"Can't find anyone who wants to that I can tolerate." Ginny snorted. "I'd last like two hours with Ron and Hermione."

She didn't mention not being able to tolerate Neville, but no one else seemed to notice. Harriet couldn't stop staring at her, for some reason. Something about her, made Harriet want to get closer, and Ginny took that something out of her pocket.

"Marvolo Gaunt's Ring," she announced as she took a shiny circle out of her pocket. As soon as she did, Harriet's ears were assaulted with such loud whispering that she had to force herself not to cover them. The whispering was evil; she just knew it. "Dumbledore says that he'll get Newt Scamander to head over to the castle to open the Chamber again so I can—"

"I don't think now is the time to discuss Order business," Hermione cut in.

Ginny's frown at Hermione's words deepened when Neville glared at the curly haired woman. "Fine. Dumbledore will be over tonight."

"Are you alright?" Neville asked Harriet, who still couldn't take her eyes off the ring. Now Ginny was staring at her.

Once the ring was back in the red haired woman's pocket, Harriet broke out her trance. "What?"

"I said, are you alright?" Neville repeated.

"Oh." Harriet forced herself to smile at him. Clearly, that thing was evil, but she wanted nothing more than to take it. The thought of attacking Ginny for it shamefully crossed her mind. "Yes. I just have a headache."

"Your scar hurt?" Hermione pushed.

Harriet put her fingers to her scar, the center of the pain. "I-I suppose."

"Hmm…" Hermione shared a look with Ginny. "We should discuss this at tonight's meeting." Ginny nodded, looking Sirius.

* * *

"These are my favorites, no matter how ugly they are." Neville smiled at Harriet as they yet again toured the garden. They stopped at what seemed to be normal plants. He handed Harriet some weird, furry object.

"Earmuffs," he explained as he showed Harriet how to put them on. "You need to wear them to look at them, or you'll pass out. It's called a mandrake. These plants helped Hermione out when she was really sick once."

Harriet did as she was told and she was not disappointed when Neville pulled out the plant. She put her hands over the earmuffs it started screaming and watched in awe as Neville lovingly replanted the strange looking creature into a larger pot. It almost looked human.

Neville grinned, and Harriet smiled back, freezing when he walked over and took her earmuffs off. A lump formed in her throat as he leaned forward, like he was going to kiss her. Luckily, the sound of someone clearing their throat made him back away quickly.

It was Ginny, and if Harriet wasn't mistake, she looked a little angry. "Order meeting in five. From what I hear, Harriet, it's past your bedtime."

Harriet thinned her lips and nodded, practically running past Ginny to head towards her room. Hopefully the Great Snake wouldn't sense her reluctance.

* * *

"You can't just kiss someone." Ginny was in her room the next day with an irritated looking Hermione. She was all smiles as she waltzed in. "You have to go on a date first. And if you want to be with Neville, we have to get you ready for it."

Hermione rolled her eyes and kept them upwards toward the ceiling for a moment. "You torture every girl that Neville is interested in."

"Torture?" Harriet repeated. Ginny was holding a box that she opened to reveal a long strip of what looked like what Lupin called paper.

"You're the one who doesn't trust her with a razor." Ginny's smile widened. "So we'll just have to wax you. Then I'll do your makeup and find a nice skirt for you."

"I didn't say I don't trust her! I said she'd nick herself," Hermione hissed. Harriet had no idea what they were talking about.

Ginny ignored her. "Neville won't like you like that unless you do these things. Now take off your pants."

Hermione looked annoyed but didn't say anything, so Harriet supposed it couldn't be so bad…

Harriet kicked Ginny in the face when she waxed her leg a few minutes later. That didn't stop her, however. She wasn't sure if she liked Ginny.

* * *

Neville should have known that Ginny was up to something when she said that Harriet would have a date with him in the attic the day after she caught him trying to kiss the other girl. His old friend thought she was being funny, but he felt a little emasculated whenever she picked on his girlfriends. Every time she did it, Neville liked her a little less.

Harriet looked like a completely different person as she struggled up the attic in tall, thin heels. All the makeup bothered her so much that she wiped her face as soon as she was steady on her feet, staining her pale blue skirt and smearing half her face.

"I…" Neville had to force himself to stop staring. The skirt was too big for her and hung from her shoulders a bit. "I made spaghetti and meatballs."

It was his mother's recipe, but before he could say so, Harriet said flatly, "I don't eat meat."

"Oh." Neville blushed. He hadn't noticed. "You can just have spaghetti then."

When Neville pulled out a chair for her, she stared at him, not understanding what he was doing and waiting for him to sit in it. He gestured for her to do so instead, causing her to pull a face like she was offended.

He made a plate of spaghetti for her, and she struggled to get some on her fork. Neville suddenly felt too nervous and awkward to eat. "So… what did you plant back home?"

"Anything we can." Harriet stabbed her spaghetti so hard with the fork that sauce splattered all over the table. Without Remus around to chide her, she clearly had terrible table manners. "Depends on how bad the winter was."

"Right. That's the good thing about the greenhouse. We can always keep it warm…" Neville found himself out of things to talk about as Harriet rubbed the rest of the makeup off her face. "Was Ginny mean to you?"

"No." Harriet didn't look so sure though. "She said you're supposed to take all the hair off your armpits and legs and near your vagina to get ready for a date. So I guess it wasn't mean."

Neville's mouth hung open while Harriet just stared like she always did as she tried to figure things out. Eventually, he decided to tuck into his dinner and let Harriet lead the conversation. Unfortunately, she didn't, and they ate in awkward silence for the rest of the meal.

Still, Neville walked her back to her room when the ordeal was over. She looked uncomfortable when he leaned in to kiss her, so he only kissed her cheek and practically fled. He picked up the pace a bit too when he heard Snape's door start to open. What the hell was he thinking?

* * *

"What were you doing with Longbottom?" Severus asked. Honestly, Harriet thought he wouldn't say anything since the man insisted that there was nothing between them. Then again, Severus claimed _it was out of respect for her mother_.

Harriet shrugged and put her hand on the doorknob leading to her room. She still felt really weird after her meal with Neville. Awkward, guilty, and exhausted were just a few of the emotions she was feeling. "Ginny says it's called a date."

The face Severus made reminded her of Hermione's cat, Crookshanks. "And why were you on a _date?"_

They ate and tried in vain to make conversation. Harriet didn't think she liked dates very much, but she had to do it for the Great Snake, and it was better than she thought it was going to be when he said to return Neville's feelings. Still, she felt guilty, and she blurted out without thinking, "I don't know. It wasn't what I expected."

"And what did you expect?" he pushed.

She never really asked Dad how he and Mummy fell in love but was sure that it wasn't in the same way she fell for Severus. Maybe they ate food and talked to each other like Neville had tried with her. "I have no idea…"

She turned to go in her room, but Severus put his hand on her shoulder. When she turned around, his face was unreadable. The last thing she wanted (or needed) was for Severus to kiss her.

 **Thank you for the reviews Ashabel, bookcoda, and Padme.G!**

 **Poor Neville!**


	8. Confessions

**Harry Potter isn't mine.**

Chapter 8 Confessions

Harriet sighed against him, and Severus waited for her to tell him to leave. He was acting like a jealous teenager, not a man who should be rejoicing that she had been interested in someone else. But then Harriet opened her door from behind him and practically dragged him into her room. Her hesitation lasted all of two seconds.

"Were you trying to make me jealous?" he asked suspiciously. Because it certainly had worked…

The little devil looked away and pulled him into a hug, neither confirming nor denying his words. She buried her face in his chest, seeming worried. "I can't do anything right…"

"Harriet," he said softly as he tipped her chin up so she would look at him. There were tears in her eyes, confusing him further. "Do you want me to leave? If I've overstepped any boundaries—"

"No." She looked away. "I thought Neville could help me save my dad."

Pettigrew was beyond saving. And she would never see that. Severus wiped one of her tears away with his thumb. "And your plan was to seduce him to get him to do it?"

"I don't know what that means." Her tone was harsh, and the color of her cheeks told him she knew exactly what seduce meant.

With a sigh, Severus dared to ask, "What do we do now?"

Her answer was to kiss him and tug him along to her bed. Again, Severus felt like a stupid teenager when he followed suit. He nearly jumped out of his skin when she grabbed his hand and guided it up her skirt. She closed her eyes, and her breathing quickened when he continued with this reckless behavior. Before things could get too far, there was a horrifying knock on her door.

Severus flung himself off her as Harriet had the gall to look annoyed with him. The knocking continued, and Black called out, "Harry! Me and Remus want to talk to you!"

"About what?" Harriet snapped as Severus rushed into the nearest closet. As soon as he shut it, he heard the door open.

"We thought you were crying," Black fretted. "About the date with Neville. And we want you to know—"

"I wasn't crying," Harriet said irritably. _Shut up!_ Severus practically screamed in his head. She knew what they thought of her feelings towards him, but she also didn't care. If Black and Lupin were to find out that he returned her sentiments, well… this was definitely not the way for them to. "I was masturbating."

"Oh," Lupin said awkwardly. If Severus wasn't locked in a closet, waiting for Black and Lupin to beat him to a pulp, he would have found it funny. The wolf's voice cracked when he said, "Well then, we'd best be going…"

But Black considered himself Harriet's pseudo parent and despite him being even more uncomfortable than Lupin, he wanted to stay. "We actually wanted to talk to you about that. Sort of… Like sex. You just got here Harry, and you don't need a—"

The little snake sensed their discomfort and pounced on it in an effort to get them to leave. "My dad said to do it when you're alone, and I was alone until you—"

"I didn't mean doing _that!_ " Black squeaked. "I meant being with someone. Having a boyfriend."

"What's a boyfriend?" Oh Merlin…

Lupin cleared his throat. "You don't need to be with someone, Harry. Romantically. You aren't ready and…"

"We understand that you think that's part of being in society, but it's not the only part," Black went on. "You can have a completely fulfilling life without having a romantic partner. We talked to Neville, and he thinks it's best for you two to remain friends."

So Longbottom had Black and Lupin to do the dirty work for him. He was never one to want to upset people, but Severus didn't think that he would go this far. Perhaps he didn't know how Harriet would react. Granger painted her out to be untrustworthy at the very least, and his Weasley companion clearly thought she was a bat shit insane barbarian.

But all Harriet said was, "Okay." She could at least pretend to be upset…

"Okay," Lupin said slowly.

"We want to make sure you're happy here, Harry—"

"I was in the middle of something," Harriet said, finally succeeding in making Black shut up. Severus's heart finally went from bursting out of his chest to just pounding as he heard footsteps as Black and Lupin started to leave…

"W-we'll talk more in the morning, Harry," Black stammered.

"No we won't," Lupin muttered. The wolf was probably thanking Merlin that his child was an infant who didn't have such problems.

"Remus," Black hissed. They continued bickering, but thankfully, Severus heard the door shut, signaling that they were no longer in the room.

Harriet opened her closet door, looking rather pleased with herself. Severus merely glared at her as Black and Lupin bickered outside her door.

"You can't knock and just walk in!" Lupin yell whispered to Black.

Black didn't even bother to whisper. "How was I supposed to know that she even knew about doing _that?_ She's a girl!"

"What are you fourteen? Women can… I'm not talking to you about this, Sirius!" Thankfully, that was the end of their conversation. Hurried footsteps told Severus that they had parted ways, but he waited a few moments before daring to speak.

"Why are you the way you are?" he whispered.

Harriet grinned and tried to drag him back to her bed. "I _was_ in the middle of something."

"And now that some of the blood has returned to my brain…" Severus sighed as she frowned at his words. "This is moving way too fast."

"What?" Of course she wouldn't understand. Pettigrew probably told her basic anatomy to quell her curiosities, but there was no reason for him to talk to her about relationships. He recalled her saying that the date with Longbottom was not what she expected, the date, he might add, that had ended less than half an hour again.

"It is not right to… We should spend more time together first…" Severus suppressed a groan as she continued to stare at him blankly. "We aren't ready to. Emotionally," he added when she opened her mouth to probably say she was ready physically.

"Okay…" She was smart and knew what he meant, although she clearly didn't like it. She was eighteen after all. Nineteen in a few months, but still…

"We'll spend time together," Severus promised. Before Black and Lupin mounted his head next to the house elves'. "It'll be better if we wait. I promise."

Harriet was staring at him as if he had three heads but tensed as he started to leave. "Stay!"

Severus shook his head. "We'll talk more in the morning, Harriet. Get some sleep… make sure this is what you want."

Harriet gripped his wrist with strength that reminded him of their days in the forest. As usual, her strength was desperate, like her survival was dependent on him staying. "I'm not sleeping. I-I don't want to dream."

His shoulders slumped slightly, causing her to loosen her death-like grip a little. He should have known that nightmares would plague her. All this things she had to do and see over the past few months. Her life beforehand wasn't all sunshine and rainbows either. After being hunted like an animal for so long, a time of her life that should finally be peaceful was being disrupted by her terrible memories.

"I'll bring you a potion," he said quietly. Then, he added, "I'll stay with you until you fall asleep."

His last sentence made her relax a bit, but something else was obviously still bothering her. "Stay."

"I said I would…" Again, Severus felt like a child disobeying his parents as he snuck out of Harriet's room and practically ran to his. No one was in sight, probably because of what she told Lupin and Black what she was doing, but he still felt rather reckless as he rushed back to her room.

Harriet sniffed the potion and wrinkled her nose at the odd smell. At a nod from him, she forced herself to drink all of its contents and looked at him expectantly, not climbing into her bed until he did.

"This can't be a nightly occurrence, Harriet," Severus whispered as he ran his fingers through her hair.

But she sighed happily and whispered, "Yes it can."

What had he gotten himself into?

* * *

The next day, Remus expected to have to avoid eye contact with Harriet since she didn't seem to grasp that what she said she was doing is something she could keep to herself. Sirius was equally mortified and was looking at his plate before Harriet even arrived to breakfast. But the girl didn't have eyes for either of them.

"Why are you the way you are?" she said teasingly to Snape.

Snape rolled his eyes, and not in his usual nasty, snarky way either. "For suggesting you put more effort into your studies?"

"I don't like to read," she said teasingly.

"No, you simply don't know how." The banter would've gone on until Remus cleared his throat. Snape stared at him as if just realizing that he and Harriet weren't the only ones in the room.

They slowly sat down, Harriet looking triumphant and Snape looking mortified. Neville frowned and decided to take a leaf out of Ron's book and tucked into his food without looking at anyone. Remus continued to stare while Sirius looked confused but seemed to be trying his best to hold onto denial.

"Would you like some milk, deary?" Molly was clearly on the denial end with Sirius. Most likely because she treated and talked to Harriet like she was a small child. "It will help you fill out a bit. Then we'd have an easier time finding clothes that fit you properly."

The only food Harriet liked to deny was meat. When she didn't like something else, she either forced herself to eat it or was very ashamed to say no. She thought food was that scarce and that she was wasting it by saying no. Her face was turning pink when she shook her head and admitted, "It hurts my stomach and makes me sick."

And like that, Snape had snapped out of his embarrassed silence. "Why didn't you say that? Your nutrient potion has milk in it."

Harriet shrugged but was as blunt as ever. "Because I get to make it with you."

This caused Snape to soften. Snape, who made children cry on a daily basis, actually _softened_. "I could substitute it for something that won't make you sick though. It's called being lactose intoler—"

"What's going on?" Remus said loudly, so loudly that _he_ was the one getting odd looks, not Harriet and Snape.

Snape raised his eyebrows as if Remus were an idiot. "She hasn't had milk for most of her life. It's not surprising that she would be intolerant to it."

"You know what I mean!" Remus snapped. Sirius, being Sirius, jumped on the bandwagon and started glaring at Snape without understanding what Remus was getting at. "You two are suddenly awfully _friendly_ with each other."

Snape paused for a few seconds. "Harriet's always been _friendly_ , as you put it."

"And you haven't," Remus pressed.

Sirius's eyes bounced from Snape's silence to Harriet's smugness and back to Snape. When he finally put two and two together, he stared to go red and Neville, Ron, Hermione, and with a bit of prodding, Ginny, picked up their plates to eat in another room. "Snape, I swear to fucking God—"

"We're friends," Snape reluctantly admitted.

"Just like you were friends with Lily," Sirius spat. "Does she know—?"

"Yes," Harriet said simply. Remus figured he'd just have to flat out ask her what was going on. She didn't seem like the type to lie. "The Great Snake told me. And Severus told me that we can't have sex."

Remus rubbed his eyes at her bluntness. Snape muttered, "Harriet, that's the worst thing you could have said."

Sometimes, he wondered if Harriet was on the spectrum because she didn't understand the expression and said flatly, "No. It's not."

"If you lay a finger on her, I'm mounting your head on the fucking wall!" Sirius yelled. Perhaps he should have talked to Harriet about this privately… "She's just a kid—"

"My dad says that I'm—"

Sirius rounded on her. "He is not your father. And he—" He pointed an accusatory finger at Snape. "—is old enough to be your father!"

Any insult to Pettigrew, no matter how small, infuriated Harriet. She jumped out of her seat and balled her fists. "He _is_ …" Then she paused as if she remembered something and seemed heartbreakingly unsure. With shining eyes, she turned to Severus. "Is he?"

Snape thinned his lips, unsure of what to say. Remus recalled Sirius saying that Harriet gotten upset when asking what color Lily's eyes were and how alike they looked. Sirius had told her the truth, not thinking much of it when he said that Lily's eyes were green and that Harriet's face had more James in it than not.

Like Sirius, Snape also went for the truth. "No, Harriet. He's not."

She ran off, causing Sirius to be torn between running after Harriet and fighting Snape. Eventually, he chose Harriet, leaving Remus to Snape. They stared at each other for a long time.

"She is a child, and she is disabled," Remus started.

"She is eighteen, and there is not a thing wrong with her," Snape said before he could stop himself. He sighed and went on, "Listen, Lupin…"

"Don't touch her," Remus seethed. So it was true. Snape had feelings for Harriet. Remus had always had an inkling, in the back of his mind, but he also thought that Snape was smart enough not to act on such feelings. "She doesn't get that this is wrong. But you do."

Snape didn't say anything for a long time, and Remus was ready to take his wand out when he heard his response. But all Snape said was, "She needs a friend."

"Not you," Remus insisted, although he knew it was no use.

"Perhaps not." Snape sounded almost worried at the admittance. Like he wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing. Because he wasn't, Remus thought to himself. He'd have Tonks talk to Harriet and hopefully she'd see reason. Snape would stay away if he thought that was what Harriet wanted.

* * *

Harriet tried to slam the door in his face, but Sirius stopped it with his foot. He grinned at her look of fury, wondering if he was getting a taste of being a parent to a teenager. She didn't find this in the least bit amusing.

"My dad says that you're supposed to give people privacy when they want it," she said stubbornly.

"Your dad used to scare me when I was on the toilet," Sirius said flatly. "Would where a demon mask and jump out of the shower."

Harriet narrowed her eyes, knowing that he wasn't talking about Peter and flung herself face down on her bed. Hesitantly, he put a hand on her back and tried to rub it soothingly. When he heard a sob, he pulled away and sat on the foot of her bed. "Harry… I didn't mean to make you think that when you asked if you looked like Lily. But it is the truth."

She waited until she was done crying to face him, although her hateful eyes were still a little pink when she turned to him. "Dad says I look just like Mummy. My appearance is all I have of her."

And he took that away. And made her realize that the man who raised her was lying to her. A big part of him wanted to tell her everything, but out of love for his goddaughter, Sirius forced himself to wait. "I can give you other things of her. Pictures. Her clothes, jewelry, I have more things of your dad's but…"

Sirius winced at his own words, but Harriet only looked sadder. She said quietly, "I knew you were telling the truth because Severus said the same thing before you. And you hate him."

Of course she had to bring this back to Snape. She only trusted his words because Snape had said something that agreed with it. Sirius bristled at the very mention of him. "You need to stay away from him, Harry. Snape, I mean. He's trying to take advantage of you, and if you weren't upset, I'd be beating the snot out of his sniveling nose."

Harriet frowned at him. Probably because she was only merely annoyed with him and planned on doing whatever she wanted anyway. "I feel safe around him. I trust him."

Meaning she didn't feel safe around Sirius, she didn't trust him. She didn't trust anyone but Snape. Sirius wanted to say that she was confusing that with romantic love but didn't want to push her even farther away. He didn't know what to do. "Can we paint together, Harry? Just you and me?"

The frowning continued. She must have been expecting an argument, but Sirius just wanted her to trust him. She was his godfather. "Okay… Can… can we paint in the garden?"

"Y-yes." Sirius's head bobbed up and down like a damned fool. Maybe he was earning her trust. Just a little…

Perhaps he could to wait a little while longer to kill Snape.

* * *

Black and Lupin clearly didn't like her spending so much time with Severus, but Harriet couldn't bring herself to care. She was confused about so many things, and when she was around Severus, she didn't feel like every thought was contradicting itself. She was able to express her feelings and not feel like she was betraying anyone.

"I still feel like he's my dad," Harriet said the following day when they were making her adjusted nutrient potion. "Even though I don't think he is. But he _is_."

Severus sighed and adjusted her hands so she could properly cut up a vegetable called a carrot. "Potter was your biological father. And from what I know he cared for you and loved you very much. But Pettigrew did raise you, Harriet. So in a way, he was your father, although his methods were subpar to say the least."

"Subpar," Harriet muttered irritably.

"Inadequate," Severus tried. Then, he frowned to himself, causing Harriet to jump on the opportunity to show him that she knew what that word meant. Her thoughts weren't animal like.

"Like wet wood." She glared at him when he raised his eyebrows at her tone. "Wet wood when you're trying to build a fire. What you need, but not good enough."

Severus smirked, annoying Harriet further. People were always using words she had never heard of, especially him. "I want to show you something while the potion is simmering. And don't get sore because you don't know what it is. It's something special I want to show you."

Harriet narrowed her eyes as he walked over to his nightstand and picked up a box. When he tapped the top of it with his wand, strange noises started coming out of it, causing her to stare. She had never heard anything like it before.

"It's called music," he said quietly. "Classical music, to be exact."

In a way, it was nice. She couldn't explain how it made her feel though, making Harriet furrow her eyebrows as she listened. Severus smiled as she tried to decide whether she liked it or not.

"I have a feeling," he muttered as he got back to work with the potion, "that if we danced that you'd either laugh in my face or continuously step on my feet."

Harriet grinned and hugged him from behind. "My dad says that dancing if only for Cornish pixies because they're devilish."

Severus spun around and grabbed her arms and started spinning her around. "Then I suppose dancing is perfect for you, you little imp."

Harriet had to stop herself from shrieking with laughter. This was a rare side of Severus that she had a feeling she was the only one who saw. She didn't want to spoil it.

* * *

She wanted to wake up, but she couldn't. The Great Snake was trying to contact her, and Harriet was doing her best to avoid it, meaning she hadn't slept through the night in at least a week. Life at the house was becoming comfortable. She was almost… happy.

Someone was shaking her shoulder, which relieved Harriet to no end, despite her exhaustion. Although it required a bit of effort, Harriet opened her burning eyes to see Severus. She smiled sleepily, causing him to put a finger to his lips.

He led her out of her room, down the stairs, and to the kitchen. To her shock, he pointed his wand at a door that she had never been able to open, and with a click, she smelled something familiar. Grass.

Harriet hardly realized that the gasp came from her as she ran through the now open door. The first thing she saw was the night sky. How long had it been since she had seen the stars? She couldn't remember.

"It's called a backyard," Severus said, causing Harriet to look down and see a wooden barrier around the field of grass. To her right, was what could only be the outside of the greenhouse. "It's getting warmer, and I know you must miss being outside…"

No one trusted her to leave the house. No one. Harriet could scarcely breathe as she struggled to take off her shoes called sneakers. The grass was muddy with melting snow, but she didn't care. Part of her thought that she would never get out of that house.

"It's safer inside," Severus said quietly. "Because of the Dark Lord. But the magical protection extends to the backyard. I want you to know that I trust you. If it weren't for Him, I'd show you the rest of the world. It's a beautiful place, Harriet. Terrifying, but beautiful."

Harriet took a deep breath of the fresh air and turned to face him. Everyone else feared that she would run away. She had to save her dad, and she could easily get past that thin wooden barrier, but… "I want to stay."

Since he wasn't following her train of thought, obviously, Severus frowned. "We can come out here at night, but you'll get too cold living out here."

"No, I mean…" Harriet paused. He never said he loved her, even though the words easily and often tumbled out of her mouth. Perhaps she should be more guarded with her words. The hesitation lasted all of two seconds. "I want to stay with you. Not…"

Severus closed the distance between them and kissed her so hard that she almost fell. They were so caught up in each other that they didn't notice a light turn on on the second floor.

* * *

 _Harriet… Harri-et…_

The evil whispers of the ring became more coherent as the days passed, and Harriet walked by Ginny's room. Part of her wanted to take it despite her revulsion, a part that was growing. They never talked about the ring in front of her again, and Harriet was too afraid to ask. The ring was never far from her thoughts, causing the Great Snake to pick up on it when he finally managed to contact her on the Dream Plane during one of their lessons.

 _He waited until Harriet was exhausted with a pounding head to ask her. Beforehand, he acted like he didn't know as he pushed her to break what he called weak wards. He knew he was at even more of an advantage. Why couldn't she wake up? She was in so much pain. Why couldn't she wake up?_

 _"When were you going to tell me, Harriet," he paused, looking down on her as she tried her best not to shake from the lack of energy, "that Ginny Weasley has something of mine."_

 _"What?" Harriet said breathlessly._

 _"Crucio!" The Great Snake made an odd movement with his hand that sealed Harriet's mouth shut so she couldn't scream. "Don't_ _ **what**_ _me! You know exactly what I'm talking about Harriet! It whispers to you. And those whispers will only grow louder and louder until you return it to me."_

 _She could have come up with an excuse, that she couldn't escape yet and therefore, couldn't bring it to him, or that she didn't know what the ring was, only that it was evil. But Harriet felt a surge of bravery. This was one thing she couldn't do for the Great Snake. He repeated the movement with his hand, allowing her to speak. "I won't."_

 _The Great Snake stared for a long time. No torture, no threats, nothing. He seemed utterly shocked at her disobedience. Finally, he came to his senses. "If you want to save your father—"_

 _"My father was wrong." It was the first time Harriet had ever said it without insisting that he was bewitched. "He chose you, and he was wrong."_

 _In a flash, the Great Snake was mere inches from her. Tendrils of darkness surrounded him and licked at her face, making Harriet feel cold and empty until the moved away. "But you chose me too, Harriet. Do you think your new little family will accept you knowing what you're doing with me? That you've given me information about my horcrux? What of Severus? You've lead him to believe that you trust him, that you have no intention of leaving him to rescue your father."_

 _Harriet bit her lip and said what she had been in denial about for weeks. "I don't."_

 _The Great Snakes eyes widened with fury, and he tortured her while describing how he was going to kill dad. Hours seemed to pass while Harriet tried to scream in silent agony. She never thought he was going to let her go, but then the impossible happened._

 _Somehow, Harriet broke through and woke up covered in her own blood._

* * *

Severus was, for once, in a deep sleep when something wet gripped his wrists. He could barely open his eyes before hearing her screams.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she shrieked. Blood was coming out of her nose and eyes. "Please help me! I'm sorry!"

"Sorry for what? Harriet!" Severus yelled as she continued to cry blood.

That was exactly how Black and Lupin found her, scream-crying, apologizing, and bleeding horrifically… in his bed.

 **Thank you for the reviews Guest and Serpent91!**


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